The Long Shadow of Michaelangelo Spike Scarlatti
by Angelinsydney
Summary: Spike was ordered to attend a six-month joint training exercise at Quantico, Virginia USA. In his long absence, Team One has to looked for a sub. They found out it wasn't going to be a straight-forward search. My usual serving of humour/suspense/mystery and hopefully, rollicking fun! Dedicated to Sami Mari and Aunt Mingy. Close to 8,000 hits.
1. The Letter

_Author's Note: I wanted to write something playful and fun. I hope this brings a smile and a chuckle. If you're a first time reader of my story, please note that I married Spike to Winnie in the story "Hope." The reference in this chapter of Spike's appearance before the Disciplinary Committee for insubordination was from the same story. I tend to write in a series format for continuity's sake._

_This is dedicated to Sami Marie and Aunt Mingy. _

**The Letter**

Spike bounced into the SRU HQ excited as per usual, he went around to the Despatcher's Desk to give his wife of six-month a hug. Their shift overlapped by four hours, the reason being their public display of affection could be saccharine sweet at times; four hours was the maximum recommended daily allowance the Fearless Leader could take of the "toothache inducing" romance between the two.

"Hello, Miss Sunshine," he said addressing his wife, Win, in his preferred term of endearment. "Hi, Angel Boy," she replied in return. After they got their tempered PDA out of the way, Win handed Spike an official looking letter, "This has been burning a hole in your pigeon hole." The thick envelope with the seal of the Ministry of Defence looked threatening, he made a face, "What did I do now?" he asked rhetorically. Win smiled, "Let me count the ways," she said.

"I heard that," he said in reply as he headed away to the locker room. He opened the letter and read it with disbelief. It's an official order and it didn't brook any dissention. He guessed rightly that a copy was supplied to Commander Holleran of the Strategic Response Unit, and another to Sargent Greg Parker. Just to be clear, it was an order, not a request. Not a "_May we have the pleasure of your company_" sort of letter. It came printed on an official letterhead from the Ministry of Defence, signed and dated by the Minister and embossed with the official seal of the Commonwealth of Canada.

The letter clearly stated that First Officer Michaelangelo Scarlatti was to report to the Headquarters of the Anti-Terror Unit for a full briefing in a week's time. Further to that, to attend a full Government-sponsored training and joint Anti-terror exercise in Quantico, Virginia for six-month. _**Six months! No, not on my chiny chin, chin!, **_he said to himself defiantly.

Pragmatically speaking, it was to be another feather to add to his cap. He was already a respected EOD (Explosives Ordnance Disposal) Personnel and Tech expert for Team One of the SRU. After the joint exercise, he could add Anti-terror expert to the list of his qualifications. An accompanying "For Your Eyes Only" memo said that key element to the training would be surveillance and prevention. In plain English, it was about heightened awareness of terror activities and how to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Training was severely lacking within Canada's police units. As a whole, the country had not been a primary target of terror groups but that has changed with Canada's involvement in the prolonged Iraq and Afghanistan wars. If the chatters were any indication, it wouldn't be long before Canada got a taste of their version of 9/11. Officers were being "pulled" from all policing units and the intelligence communities: the Mounted Police, Immigration, Customs, SRU. He was handpicked to join 11 other Canadian officers for the joint training.

Spike read the summon with great displeasure. Ordinarily, he'd be whooping for joy but he just got married and didn't fancy seeing his lovely wife of six months just on weekends, if that was even permitted. _They should be recruiting Samtastic for this, he was ex-SF and he's still single. It's a mistake. _He pocketed the letter and sought out the Boss. Greg was on the phone to someone looking grim. He briefly showed his face through the glass door and left once Parker acknowledged him with a look that said _just let me finish this._

Parker ended the call not long after and buzzed him into the briefing room, He was voicing his dissent before he could sit down, "Boss I can't go to this…," Greg gave him the palm of his hand, "Stop right there. I already tried to get you off the hook but to no avail. You're going or else be canned for insubordination." At the word "insubordination" they both paused. The Techie had had a brush with a disciplinary committee once for this behaviour and another would be ticket out the door. Permanently this time!

Michaelangelo looked at his hands and appealed to his Boss with a puppy face. Parker knew what Spike was doing and gave him a playful slap on the head. "It's not me you should be appealing to, and you know that." They sat quietly absorbed in their own thoughts. Spike dwelt more on personal matters. Six months was a long time to be away from loved ones; his wife and his Team. Team One had been together a good five years, and aside from a few personnel changes, it had been the same solid constitution. He liked his Team, he loved them as family. Another feather in his cap wasn't worth the six-months he'd spend apart from them, especially his wife.

Greg's thought dwelt more on a straight-forward professional matter. He wasn't sentimental about Spike going away for six-months. He knew the Techie would be back, better and smarter if that was even possible. His concern was **who** to replace him with?

He was glad that in the SRU they were in it together as far as selection goes. It wasn't his call alone to choose Spike's replacement albeit temporary, it was going to be a Team effort. _Many heads are better than one._ He failed to account for one human factor. Everybody wanted someone just like Spike!

Greg would soon find out for real that Michaelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti did cast a long shadow.

_Enjoy and I hope you let me know what you think, if not in a review, in a private message._


	2. Desperado

**Desperado**

Sargent Greg Parker gathered his crew in the briefing room to make the announcement that Spike was selected to take part in a joint training exercise with their counterparts in the US. "He's one of 12 Canadians who will train at Quantico for six months."

"Did you say six months?" inquired a disbelieving Jules Callaghan, a five-year vet of the SRU Team One.

"You heard right," Parker replied. Their EOD sat glumly in the corner, his thought consumed by the fact he hadn't even had the chance to tell his wife of this untimely and unfortunate assignment before everyone else knew about it.

Ordinarily, Team One would be celebrating the selection of one of their own, but they sensed Spike didn't want it. It didn't take a genius to guess it was primarily because he didn't want to be separated from his bride so soon, hence the sulking. Seeing how despondent their friend was Raf, the team rookie, offered an inspired suggestion, "Spike," he said, "make yourself so annoying they'd be forced to send you home." The unsolicited advice quickly sparked up the EOD, "Rafik fantastik," he said in a delighted cartoony voice and high-fived with Raf.

Parker called them on it, "Scarlatti, if you embarrass the SRU at Quantico, you better not come back," he said sternly, a finger pointed in his direction. The reprimand quickly ended the Techie's premature celebration. "Yes, Boss," he said in a manner more compliant than was warranted.

Fearless Leader Ed Lane was thoughtful, "This is well and good," he said, "But who will take his place while he's away? Six month is a long time to be one-man down."

"I've asked for a temporary replacement with Human Resources, Commander Holleran supported the request. A short-list of past candidates will be given to us next week so we can conduct selection."

"Not to be a party pooper," said Sam, "What are we gonna do with the rookie once Spike returns? Surely, we can't toss him back where we recruited him from?"

Greg Parker agreed, adding, "We're looking to ask RCMP to lend us the right candidate on secondment. It's the ideal solution." He added thoughtfully, "If we were just going to be a man down for short period we could borrow a Techie from the other teams but six months is a long time to do that. It would mess with their mojo and team dynamics."

It looked to one and all that it was a done deal so the quicker they accepted the inevitable the better. Before they broke up the meeting, Spike asked everyone not to mention the matter to Win as he hadn't told her yet, "I'd like her to hear it from me."

Greg Parker watched the Techie's back as he left the room head slightly bowed. _Poor thing_, he thought. _Sometimes it's not a good thing to be too good at anything_. Unbeknown to them, Greg had something in mind to keep Spike and Win together in the US but decided to withhold this until he could pull it off.

Win was finishing her shift in an hour, Spike sent her a message, "Miss Sunshine, Im in D basement, talk B4 you go." She had a feeling it had something to do with the formal looking letter so she dreaded going to see him. But the reality was such that whatever it was had to be dealt with so she might as well face it sooner rather than later.

Meantime, tinkering with Babycakes gave Scarlatti an idea. A bubble floated out of his head and stayed there. _Yes_, he thought triumphantly, _the main thing was_ _not to be too obvious._ Scarlatti's brain went into overdrive thinking of ways to sabotage his involvement with the joint taskforce.

Win came down shortly, "Hi Angel Boy," she cooed as she embraced him from behind. He smiled and warned her that she shouldn't do such a thing if she didn't want trouble. She laughed as she pinched his bum, to which he responded with a threat to sue for sexual harassment.

"Seriously," she said, "What is this about?"

Spike pulled the letter out of his pocket and gave it to Win, his eyes forewarned her that it wasn't good news. She exhaled and went off in search of a seat. She read the letter and repeated, "six months." She looked up at him, "Can you beg off?" she asked knowing that he couldn't get out of it if he tried.

"I've tried," he said, "it looks like I've no choice in the matter." He went over where she was and knelt in front of her. "Don't worry, I'll find a way to wiggle out of it. Trust me, ok?" She reached out to touch his face. She was doubtful he'd succeed but there was something she needed to tell him, "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," he said genuinely touched.

She looked around the workshop that had his stamp on it. "This place would feel empty without you." She took hold of both his hands: they were calloused and stained with chemical burns. Sometimes, he came home with broken finger nails from all the repairs he did by himself. She mused how strong and manly his hands were; they stamped everything they had touched. She realised she was becoming pensive so she changed the topic. "Do you know if we can see each other on week-ends?" He shook his head, "Too early to tell."

He stood up and pulled her along gently, "You better go, it's getting late. Don't wait up for me." They went up arm-in-arm. He took her to her car and admonished her to drive carefully.

The following day he went in search of Greg Parker, "Bad news Boss," he said when he caught up with the Sargent, "Babycakes need urgent emergency repair and only I know how to get her in tip-top shape." Parker furrowed his brow and asked to be shown the robot.

"Sure," he said. He led the Boss to the workshop down the basement. Indeed, Babycakes was in pieces on the workbench. Parker scratched his chin, picked up a screw and asked aloud how a well-maintained bomb-sniffing robot could suddenly be in such a state of disrepair. "Well," the EOD said, "Well… you know… like a car…. it falls apart, the parts need to be replaced. And, look at this," he picked up a rusty piece of wire, "it's worn down. I've got to stay, Boss, to repair Babycakes."

Greg turned to face him, his arms akimbo. Spike did his best to keep a poker face but the longer the stare down went on the harder it was for him to look innocent, "Nice try, Scarlatti. Put her back together before we get a bomb call. You wouldn't want to get a bomb scare just as Babycakes lie in ruins."

_**Bummer!**_


	3. Yes, Minister

_Author's Note: Members of Geeks United first appeared in the story "Weapons of Mass Destruction" and once again in "A Pleasant Surprise". They have also made appearances individually in various other stories. _

**Yes, Minister**

The day to appear before the Minister of Defence soon came. Parker decided to keep the Techie in a tight leash considering how he was dragging his feet and digging his heels in. "Come see me before you go to the MOD," he told Spike the night before. The Techie nodded in acknowledgment knowing it was pointless to argue.

He came in early the next day dressed in a suit and tie. He in fact wanted to wear a bowtie and a vest just to take the mickey out of the occasion but Win was steadfast in her opposition. He finally admitted that it was not wise to annoy the Sargent so early in the day; but still he had ask himself, _What was the fun in that?_

Parker complimented him on his overall appearance and in an oblique way advice him that it would be good for his career if he presented himself well before the Minister; and, that anything he did would reflect back to the elite police unit. Spike was a little miffed because it felt as if he had been called to the Principal's Office. Honestly, the last time he was in one was in high school when he accidentally on purpose glued the doors of the gymnasium shut. He was 12 but had to do physical education with 15 year-old teeners. He was tried of being kicked about in basketball even by the female of the specie, gluing the doors shut seemed like a good idea at the time.

At any rate, here he was in all his splendid glory presenting himself for inspection like a cow for the slaughter; at least that was how he felt. Parker looked at him with both pride and amusement, he nodded back to Spike, his head tilted slightly up and said, "Go knock them off their feet." As badly as he felt about the whole darn thing, he couldn't help but be happy that the Sargent was happy.

"Thanks, Boss" he said. He took a step back and bumped into a chair, he very nearly crack his head on the floor as he lost his balance. Parker caught his raised hand just in time, "God Spike," he said, "it would really help to watch where you're going." As they both laugh about the incident the earlier tension between them dissipated into the wind.

It wasn't a long drive to the MOD, he parked some way from the main entrance since he wasn't in a hurry to get there. Someone behind him was calling out his name, "Spike, Spike." He turned around and was taken aback to find Binary dressed in a smart pantsuit, she who was always seen in ripped jeans and cuffed shirt. The 20-year old airport security expert was a member of Geeks United. "Are you here to see the Minister?" she asked coolly.

"Yeah," he said, "And you?"

Binary nodded excitedly. "Quantico, Virginia," her chocolate eyes grew big and round, "Can you imagine that?" Spike was jealous of her enthusiasm; he would be too, with the exception that he was missing his wife already, happy and enthusiastic. _Bugger that!_

They arrived at the lobby to find that they knew everybody. Spike was pleased to find that all of Geeks United were selected. Aside from Binary, there was Lucas of the Traffic Authority, Paul of RCMP Cybercrime Unit, and Andrew of the Ports Authority.

The six others were from every branch of the military: Air, Navy, Army, Signals, Engineering Corp, and, Logistics and Support. The last one to arrive was from Border Security,

"It's odd CSIS is not represented?" Lucas observed, "I expected Yoh-Lin to be here." Spike slapped a hand on his forehead, _of course_, he wasn't here to represent the police unit, that would be Paul's business inasmuch as he's the head of RCMP's Cybercrime Unit. He now suspect his CSIS handler had sold him down the river but he would keep this to himself, for now.

The Assistant to the Minister came out to invite them into the Minister's Chamber, "He'll be in shortly, he's just held up at a Press Conference." She then inquired in a manner reserved for important people if they want something to drink, they all declined not wishing to fall victim to Murphy's Law. It always happened that the VIP arrived just as you were about to sip from your china. And they were vindicated!

The Minister walked in shortly followed by three full-time staff. It seemed to them that one was hired to carry his coat; one to cart his briefcase and one to carry his reading materials. Perhaps it was due to boredom or just because he was Michaelangelo Scarlatti, his brain started calculating how much the staffer were costing the taxpayers on an average staff salary of CAN$40K plus fringe benefits plus retirement savings. The total didn't sit well with him. He thought perhaps he should be finding ways to minimise his tax payable.

He suddenly snapped out of it when he saw an arm in front of him, he absent-mindedly shook the proffered hand and smiled back at the Minister. "Thank you for coming," said the politician while a staffer whispered to his ear, "Officer Scarlatti." _Oh, ok,_ he thought, at least she did more than carry the briefcase.

The introduction done, the Minister invited them to sit in the conference room for a briefing "on the importance of what they'd be doing for the country".

"It's one thing to have guns," he said, "But we need to know who to point them at. Technology is evolving every quickly and we need to be on top of our game." The geeks looked at each other and wondered if they were about to be taught how to suck eggs. At any rate, they decided that humility was better than valour so they nodded themselves silly and humoured the politician.

When he finished, he asked if anyone had any questions or comments. Spike raised a finger and said he really ought to be let out of class, "These are geeks," he said in protest. A female voice piped up, it was Binary, "Well, look who's in denial?" The Gang of 12 finally had something to really laugh about. The Minister didn't know what was funny but laughed with them anyway.

Then it was class dismissed.

,


	4. Scars and Angel's Kisses

_Author's Note: Those who are familiar with my writing style know that I try to reflect life as it would ordinarily occur for real, shades of dark and light moments. This chapter is about that. Enjoy and may you find love as pure as Angel's kisses._

_The reference of Leslie's rescue from a burning building was from the story "Hope."_

**Scars and Angel's Kisses**

It was a week to go before the impending long separation. To some people's surprise Winnie was handling it better than Spike who was increasingly clinging and affectionate towards his wife. Sam made a comment about it to the group one day after shift, "It's a little weird don't you think?"

"No, it's not," said Jules ever the sharp one of them all, "Generally, women handle separation better than men. And that's a fact of life. Widows bloom, widowers wither." Leah nodded vigorously and high-fived with Jules, "Well, if my grandma and my mom were anything to go by, more power to womanhood."

Ed who had a period of singleness when Sophie left him for a time during their pregnancy with Izzy agreed, "No doubt about it, when Soph left me she sort of landed on her feet, I just floundered. If I wasn't busy with work, I'd have gone stir crazy."

"What about you, Boss? What'd ya think?" asked Sam.

"I agree with Jules. My ex-wife was back on the saddle before I was. It took me just 10 years to dare again. Women have the emotional fortitude, well… **more** emotional fortitude to cope with aloneness…. not sure if there's a clinical study that could prove that though," he said with a smirk.

"If Spike was a test subject the male of the specie would fail big time," said Raf to everyone's hilarity. They stopped laughing when Spike joined them, looking dishevelled. Jules' eyebrow went up and inquired, "What happened to you?"

"Nothin, just did some last minute stuff in the basement. You guys would be helpless without me," said Spike in a moment of banter with his team. "Ah, here's a list and diagram of where everything is," he handed each a copy of the detailed map; and, a separate page of itemised listing, in alphabetical order. "Ok, if you're looking for a screw, you refer to page 2, it'll say, shelf 2, level 3. So please don't make it a mess. I want to see it in the same order when I return." He looked at all of them, and said, "I shall return" in a pose reminiscent of Gen Douglas MacArthur.

He grabbed a towel and went to shower, Raf spoke for all of them, "I'm really gonna miss him. Shit man, look how detailed this is. You think anyone of us can do a better job down there?"

The Fearless Leader turned to the Boss, "We really should 'ave done more to keep him. I dread havin to look for a replacement, even if temporary…. "

"Have you seen the list of candidates? It'll take us weeks just to narrow it down to a short-list," said Leah with a shrug, "Let alone picking one." The thought of the task ahead alone was enough to make them feel week.

"Well, I'm off," said Ed in resigned acceptance of their fate, "Date night." He tapped Greg on the shoulder, "You too, two people are waiting for you at home so you better move your ass."

Everyone headed off, Spike was still in the shower vigorously scrubbing off oil, grease and dirt. He came out to the locker room to find it's been taken over by Team Four. "Hey, Spike, heard you're off in a week. Congrats, man." Spike good-naturedly accepted the good wishes and gave Troy the diagram and list of item for the workshop. "This is for your Team so everyone knows where to find stuff while I'm away."

"Thanks buddy." Troy glanced at the detailed map and the list, passed it on to his Techie, John Q (so nicknamed after the Movie starring Denzel Washington) and told his team. "You better believe it we're gonna miss the lad."

The Techie picked up his uniform and grimaced, _maybe I should just throw them out_. It was covered in grease, he doubted there's anything on the supermarket shelf that could remove the offending stains. He packed them anyway, he'll concoct his own brand of stain remover.

Spike came home to a rousing welcome from Liley, the Canadian eskimo dog and Moppet, the three-legged golden retriever and to aroma of home cooking, "What's for dinner, Miss Sunshine?"

"I bought a French cookbook. We're having beef burgundy and vanilla crème Broulee. Here, open this.." she passed him a bottle of red. They ate dinner to classical music and candle light. Spike was very quiet so Win left him to his thoughts. After dinner, she asked, "So what do you think?"

"Of what?"

"Of dinner."

"Oh, it's very delicious. Is there more?"

"Yeah, there's more," she got up to serve him a second serving but he pulled her onto his lap instead. "Of this, I mean," he kissed her passionately. When they came up for air, he kept her captive for a wee longer, then just as suddenly said, "Ok, you can go get me a second serving now." She playfully smacked his head and said, "Coming right up."

After dinner, they snuggled-cuddled in front of the television for a romantic viewing of National Geographic's documentary on volcano. If nothing else thought Win, she's smarter now than before her marriage to Scarlatti. Tonight, she learned about active volcanoes, but there was something she'd rather do. "I'm tired, Angel Boy, I'm off to bed."

"I'm coming too," he said. He made a move to join her, Liley and Moppet followed. "No, stay!" he said sternly. "Some places are off limits," he said more to himself.

They cuddled in bed for while lost in thought. Win absent-mindedly rubbed the callous on his elbow then traced her hand up his arm and found, as if for the very first time, a birthmark-like appearance. "What's this?"

"Chemical burn. I splashed something on it. I had the presence of mind to rip off my sleeve before it burnt more of me."

She noticed a blotch just under the collar bone, "And this?"

"I got it in high school, someone threw a rock, I was a clutch back then and didn't catch it. It smacked me just under the collarbone."

He still had scars from the heat burn when he rescued Leslie from a burning building but that's fading now. The epidermis has been replaced by fresh skin which it didn't look too bad now that the fresh skin has aged a bit.

"What's this?" she pointed to a depression on the side of his abdomen.

"A gunshot ricochet. Years ago, I was still a beat cop. A subject opened fire, I got out of the line of fire but the bullet hit concrete and bounced back and hit me."

She took his hands in hers and studied it closely. There were callouses on his fingertips and the inside of his palm, she's become very familiar with them. She inspected spots of chemical burns and the uneven finger nails. "I love your hands," she said.

"Then you really need to go out more and see more hands," he said amused. "But thank you," and he kissed the top of her head.

"My turn to inspect you," he said. She giggled. He ran his fingers up and down her and found no blemish or scars. "There's nothing," he said, "No identifying marks or blemish."

"Don't be silly," she said. "My face's full of freckles, that's why I use a concealer."

"Oh, so that's what it's called. But why would you want to conceal them?"

"Because they're ugly to look at," she said matter-of-factly.

"No, they're not." She became very self-conscious when he wouldn't stop looking at her face.

"Nanay said it's called Angel's kisses." He said almost lost in thought.

"Who's nanay?" she asked intrigued.

"Nanay is mother in Tagalog, the language in the Philippines. When I was a boy we had a Filipino family next door. I became very close to them. Nanay said that in the Philippines if a baby shows a freckle on her face people would say, 'her guardian angel kissed her in the night'."

She smiled. He stared some more. "What? Anything weird on my face?" she asked when a minute later he was still staring at her.

"Nothing, I was just thinking I'm very jealous of your Angel."

She exhaled, and thought, _What a nice thing to say_. It brought tears to her eyes and said, "That's just the most beautiful thing I've ever heard."

He drew her close to him and whispered, "He better be looking after you really well while I'm not here."

They fell asleep spooned together.


	5. Genesis

**Genesis**

Win came to work half an hour early as usual; this has always been the case with her as it made for smoother hand-over with her colleague. Nothing in their role was predictable so they all had to be flexible and available every given day. A despatcher would not hand-over a "hot call" midstream. They'd go on overtime with the Team in the event it developed into a siege. They were integral to the operation – they were not "just" despatchers. They were the key that held everything together and coordinated everyone involved. The linchpin. Remove them and things would seriously go to shits.

She arrived fresh-faced and ready to roll, Peter who was on and eager to go greeted her warmly, "You're a sight for sore eyes," he looked at the computer clock and smiled, "I'm out of here in half an hour," he said gleefully rubbing his hands. Oh, I nearly forgot… go see the Boss, he wants a word with you."

"With me?" she asked with a raised eyebow.

"Yup… make it a short meeting, ok?" A silly grin was plastered on his face, giving away a secret.

"A date?"

"Yeah, she's exquisite."

"Not furry or spotty?"

"Winnie?" he intoned in a mock-threatening manner. "If you value your life…"

"Ok, she's exquisite. And I'm going to see the Boss… now," she glanced back at him and added, "I have to approve her ok? She must meet my exacting standard." Peter laughed and waved her off with a hand, "Go away."

She knocked on the door and was surprised to find Spike alone with the Boss, _Trouble?_ She couldn't help but feel they've been called to the Principal's Office. She wracked her brain thinking what they might have done wrong, her hands felt clammy. She forced a smile first at her husband, then at Parker who smiled back warmly. It was a nice smile, it helped put her at ease_, I think we're ok_. She didn't know where to sit, _Close or across him?_ She decided to take a seat next to him.

It was all good until her eyes fell on a folder with her name on it. It was her personnel file. _Oh no? Did anyone file a complaint?_ She looked at Spike who shrugged, a physical communication that could only be interpreted as "Beats me_." This is not helping at all!_

"Hello," she said. What's this about?" Parker sensed her nervousness so he didn't string her along. _The poor girl is probably freaking out._

Parker opened the file," Win, do you remember what you wrote down as your medium plan aspiration when you applied for this position?" The question was nicely delivered but she was unsure what this had to do with how she performed her job. Parker clarified his intention, "I'm only asking because I want to make sure that it hasn't changed since you started here four years ago."

Winnie felt herself relaxed, "I said I'd like to become a crime scene investigator and no, that hasn't changed. I'd still want to study crime scene forensics given half the chance."

Now it was Spike's turn to be surprised, "You never told me that?"

She replied, "It never came up." Honestly, Spike knew it was because he had been too self-centred, too focused on his own career and on his advancement. He never asked her if she had higher aspiration than sit behind the desk and take "hot calls." The answer wasn't "It never came up". The unadulterated truth was he didn't care to know. He felt such an ass. Spike reached for her hand, gave it a gentle squeeze and mouthed, "I'm sorry."

Parker pretended he didn't see it; it was for them to work out. He continued, "That's good to hear, Win, what would you say if I tell you I got a place for you to train as a CSI at Quantico?"

"Sorry?" she said unsure whether she heard Sgt Greg Parker correctly. Spike nearly fell off his chair, "Really?" he said. Parker looked at him and thought that any minute now the Techie would have a massive cardiac arrest so he answered him first, "Yes, really."

The Boss with the cherubic face turned to Win and broke into a big grin, "You've been accepted to train as a CSI at Quantico", he paused to let her absorb the happy news. "Before you assume that I pulled strings, I didn't. You earned it. I submitted three letters of references, one from me, Ed and Commander Holleran. I sent them three "hot calls" recordings to demonstrate your ability to be calm under pressure and three critical assessment reports to show your competency and intelligence. So what do you say?"

"Yes, yes, I'd like to go," she was having difficulty containing her happiness. She was jumping out of her skin but still managed to asked, "Boss, who'll take over from me? The guys wouldn't be able to cover me for six months, can they?"

"Kira's back for the duration," he said. "Ah, you have my permission to jump up and down," seeing that Spike was barely holding himself together. Scarlatti whooped, "Quantico, here we come." He was so excited and loud everyone at SRU HQ heard.

Jules who was writing a report next door with Leah asked, "What's going on in there?"

"Let's check it out."

The two female Constables of Team One got up to check, just as the rest of the Team were strolling towards the briefing room. Parker motioned for all of them to come in, "I have an announcement to make. Well, Ed knew about this of course," pointing out the Fearless Leader who had a wicked grin on his handsome face.

"These two are going to Quantico together. Win was accepted to train as a CSI at Quantico," the Team clapped and hooted to Win's embarrassment. "I'm so happy for you," said Jules who was Win's Number One supporter.

The Techie stood up to thank Ed, "What can I say? Thanks."

Ed replied, "Don't mention it, happy to support a wonderful, deserving girl."

Sam tapped Spike on the shoulder, "You know what this means right? She can kill you without leaving forensic evidence."

For the first time since she's known all of them, the attention was on her. It delighted her but at the same time scared her a little. What if she failed them? What if she didn't turn out to be calm under pressure or competent or intelligent? She cast aside the '_what ifs'_ and thanked them all for their good wishes and hugged each one of them.

It was Parker who broke up the party, "I hate to say this but the City still needs us so as much as we all wanna stand here and be happy, we've got to get back to work. So shoo! Scoot!" Everyone left the briefing room except Spike.

Parker gave him a quizzical look, "Anything else, Officer Scarlatti?"

"Boss, how long had you known about this?" he asked.

"Spike, if you must know I only got her acceptance letter today. I couldn't say anything to you or her until I got the official word."

Scarlatti turned serious, "Boss, I was worried about going and leaving her, so thank you."

Sargent Parker sighed, "Ah Spike. You weren't worried. You knew she could take care of herself. You were pining before you even left. You are one sick love puppy," he laughed heartily at the Techie's expense. Spike smiled, scratched his head and went off to join everyone else.

The rest of the afternoon was patrolling the streets of Toronto day. Raf and Spike rode together as often the case. They caught up on family news and bantered until towards the end of shift, Raf said, "Spike, I'm gonna miss you buddy."

The Techie who had become his closest mate in the Team slapped him on the shoulder and said, "I'm gonna miss all of you. I'd be back before you know it."

Spike kissed his wife goodbye at the end of his shift, she won't be home until 9pm, "I'll make dinner," he said. He went shopping for the ingredients and bought flowers and balloons and streamers. They would celebrate in style.

Win came home to a lovely aroma of Italian cuisine, she could smell it from the corridor. She opened the door to find Liley and Moppet decked out in fancy doggie costume that made her giggle. Streamers strung up on the ceiling and Spike dressed in a Tuxedo, "Welcome Madame," he said. "May I take you to your seat?" That night he served her dinner and they laughed themselves silly. It was nice, she thought, to say goodbye to pensive Spike and hello to the happy one.

When all the excitement had died down and they were cuddled in bed together, she decided to grab this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with both hands. No, she wouldn't fail them. She knew who she was, what she wanted and what she was capable of. She lived under her husband's shadow – to his personality, his genius and his ingenuity, now was her turn to move out from under his and cast her own shade. She wouldn't fail them, she wouldn't fail him and most importantly, she wouldn't fail herself. She embraced her genesis, her new beginning. She went to sleep with a smile on her face.


	6. Adieu

_Author's Note: Read Spike's first job at age 15 in the one-shot story, "Sealed, Never to be Opened." The bad, bad carjacking virus Win referred to in this chapter was featured in the story, "Beyond this Place of Blood and Tears" specifically Chapter 8 titled "Revenge"._

**Adieu**

An internal memo was sent out to all police agencies a week before Spike's departure, inviting serving officers to join the elite SRU. The ad said a temporary vacancy needed filling urgently. Files, recommendations and applications started to trickle in but no one with Team One wanted to start looking at applicants until Spike and Win had left the building. They thought, _'Really, how hard could that be?'_ They had a large pool of talents to choose from, it could wait.

But everywhere Team One members went they got accosted by wannabes, and peppered with questions to their at times great annoyance. The main question being "What do you think are my chances?" Ed Lane was not one to mince words, he said nicely to everyone who asked, "If you didn't know your chances, you didn't know yourself enough to apply for it."

Sam got asked for preparation tips a lot, "It's not like you're joining a selection for the JTF. You don't have to trek up a Canadian mountain to get picked. Relax, study your police procedure and practice at the range. You'll be right."

Spike spent his remaining three days doing two things. Looking for tenants for their two apartments and looking for a house to rent near FBI's Quantico training facility. Finding a tenant for Apartment 7 wasn't a problem, his CSIS handler, Senior Intelligence Yoh-Lin Tee and his wife, Sam Miller booked it for six months as their own place undergo renovations.

Apartment 8 was slightly problematic in that it was not renovated and therefore very unappealing to potential tenants; and had lots of dog hairs no amount of vacuuming could suck up. Realising how unrealistic it was to find a lessee in three days, they decided to leave it in the hands of Win's Mom and Dad to lease out after they vacated with their dogs.

Looking for an apartment online one night, Win asked Spike, "Can't the FBI house us in a dorm?" Spike smiled at her, "Sure they can but I'm not living in a dorm room with those two crazy dogs and they won't have them either."

Win, who had been living independently since she was 19 and used to budgeting, was more practical minded about money. Spike lived with his parents until just two years ago in his late 30s, for him money was never an issue. Savings was therefore huge in Win's mind. "If we live in a dorm, we can save our stipend. One day we'll have babies and we would need the money."

Spike realised Win didn't know the extent of their financial capacity. "We do have money... quite a bit to start a family."

Win raised an eyebrow, Spike sense her brain mentally computing their salaries, adding up their expenses and subtracting this from their combined income._ 'Yes, there's really more than enough,'_ she concluded. He invited her to sit next to him, "I lived with my parents most of my adult life and didn't have a lot of expenses. They refused to take money from me. I resorted to getting all the bills online so they didn't receive them in the mail, or else I wouldn't have contributed to our living expenses at all. I've been working since I was 15, well sort of working," he said with an amused twinkle in his eyes.

He continued, "I saved a lot. We own apartments 7 and 8, and we'll get rental incomes from them while we're away. I get consulting fees from CSIS and I've sold apps. "

"Apps?"

"I'm quite clever you know, I've designed apps and sold them for a good price," he said with a wink.

"Oh," she said, greatly impressed with the man she married. Then she had a worrying thought, "You didn't sell that crazy app that hijacked people's car, have you? That would be really dangerous."

Spike laughed, "That's not an app, it's a virus. And no, I won't ever sell it. By the way, I'm not the only one who had the ability to write that virus, there are lots of geeks out there in the big bad world."

He drew her close, sat her on his lap and said, "When you become a CSI, I'm quitting my job and will be a kept husband." She playfully slap his arm and said, "Don't be silly."

"I'm serious. I'm going to stay at home while you work and I'll take up knitting." They laughed and went back to search for an apartment online. When they couldn't find somewhere suitable that accepted pets, they decided to search for a house. Google Earth showed them a house for lease that backed into a reserve, with a tiny creek running behind it. They viewed a virtual tour of the house's interior and were very impressed. The bonus was the big grassy backyard for Liley and Moppet. Spike called the agent and arranged to pay for a deposit. The reality of the move dawned on them and they hugged.

With less than three days before they had to move, Spike arranged to rent a storage facility for six months. They packed everything up in two days, organised a removalist and stayed in a hotel for their final day in Toronto.

But it wouldn't be right unless there was a "going away" party to send them off. So to the Goose they all gathered one balmy night. As usual, there was drinking, and laughing, and singing and thank goodness they were all there.

There was Greg and Marina with Dean who had come of age to drink with them. Ed and Sophie, without Dean who thanked God hasn't come of age so there was someone home to look after Izzy. Raf and Billy, his tiny Aussie girlfriend. Sam and Jules. Wordy and Shell. Leah and a handsome firey called James - so Spike and Win were pleased not to be the centre of attention.

"So James, how did you meet Leah?" Spike asked with a sparkle of naughtiness in his eyes. He can ask all the questions he wanted since he won't be around to account for his antics.

The fireman looked at Leah to assess whether she's mind him saying how, she didn't appear to be fussed so he answered, "We met at a fire-fighting exercise. She was trapped in a burning building and I was to save her."

"Did you?" they all wanted to know.

He smiled and said "Affirmative. But she didn't want me to carry her down the ladder." They ahh'd.

"Why not?" inquired Shell.

"I don't fancy him dropping me on my head. Besides it was just an exercise."

"But now you don't know if he had the ability to get you down the ladder," said Sophie. They all teased James who was fair-skinned, he turned beetroot red. "He's blushing," Billy pointed out," That's so cute."

The bantering and the teasing lasted all night until Greg asked Spike by what means they were going to Quantico, expecting the Techie to say what flight they were boarding, instead Spike said, "We decided to take the long scenic drive."

Winnie continued, "It's not that far… at a stretch it would take 10 hours but we plan to stop at two places and take turns driving. Liley and Moppet would be happier travelling in the car than by plane."

Dean asked, "What time are you planning to start?"

"We're easy on that. We will make a move when we both feel rested."

The send-off went on for another hour, Teams 2 and 3 joined them. Team 4 sent a semi-naked messenger with a telegram to say, "Thank you. Goodbye for now. And come back soon."

And all left when finally the manager of the Goose said they either leave or pay for his staff overtime pay. They bade them all adieu but not before singing the song, "So long, Farewell" from the Sound of Music.

There's a sad sort of clanging

From the clock in the hall

And the bells in the steeple, too

And up in the nursery

An absurd little bird

Is popping out to say coo-coo

(Coo-coo, coo-coo)

(Billy, Leah and Jules) (Greg, Ed, Wordy)

coo-coo Regretfully they tell us

coo-coo But firmly they compel us

to say goodnight

coo-coo

(All)

To you

(All the women)

So long, farewell

Auf Wiedersehen, goodnight

(Jules)

I hate to go and leave this pretty sight

(All the men)

So long, farewell

Auf Wiedersehen, adieu

(Raf)

Adieu, adieu

To you and you and you

(Everybody)

So long, farewell

Au revoir, Auf Weidersehen

(Jules)

I'd like to stay

And taste my first champagne

(talking to Sam) yes?

(Sam) no!

(Everybody)

So long, farewell

Auf Weidersehen, goodbye

(Wordy)

I leave and heave

A sigh and say goodbye

Goodbye

(Ed)

I'm glad to go

I cannot tell a lie

(Jules)

I flit, I float

I fleetly flee, I fly

(Billy)

The sun has gone

To bed and so must I

(Everybody)So long, farewell

Auf Weidersehen, goodbye

Goodbye

Goodbye

Goodbye

(Spike and Winnie)

Goodbye


	7. Talent Search

**Talent Search**

Everyone noticed it!

"Geez, man, it's so bloody quiet," remarked Raf who wasn't used to the monastery-like atmosphere. "Where's our _joie de vivre_?"

"He's at Quantico," replied Samtastic.

Sgt Parker poked his head in the locker room, "Right guys, stop the moanin' and the groanin', get in the briefing room. We have a lot of files to get through." They got changed in a real hurry eager to get started on their talent search for Spike's replacement. But they nearly choked when they found a massive pile of applications on the conference table.

Greg Parker had an idea to make the selection process go quicker, "Let's divide these up, everyone get 10 files each. Go through the applicant's qualifications and pick the best."

"No worries!" said Raf obviously picking up Australianism from his live-in girlfriend Billy from DownUnder.

They quietly read through the files, 15 minutes later Ed Lane announced he was done. "What!" exclaimed Jules. "You speed reader or what?"

The Fearless Leader said the applicants were all crap and there was no way he'd consider them for Team One, "Not even as bench warmer. Not that Spike was a bench warmer."

"What's wrong with them?" asked the bemused Sargent.

Ed picked up one of the files at random and opened it to the front page. He read aloud, "Marksmanship 70%." Officer Lane thumped the table for emphasis. "Do you know what that means guys? Three out of every 10 bullets this guy fires will hit someone else other than the subject. No way this guy…" he looked at the name, "…Choy will join Team One."

"You've got a good point, Ed," said Samtastic. "None of us would hesitate assigning Spike 'Sierra 1'. I certainly didn't. From my recollection, Spike's lowest marksmanship score was 95%."

"Or, I'd have fired his ass," said Ed smiling.

"Let's set aside everyone with marksmanship score lower than 95%, that should narrow it down quickly," suggested Leah Kearns who started her emergency services career as a fire fighter, and now a fully-pledged crime fighter with Team One.

Parker was pleased they were all on the same page. He reckoned at the rate they were going and the number of files to get through, they'd be in the briefing room for hours so out of the kindness of his heart he paid for morning tea. He ordered for a dozen muffin and donut to be delivered to SRU HQ. He announced food was coming and that energised and motivated everyone. But before the treats got there, in less than 15 minutes they were done! And not a file left.

They sat around wondering what to do next. Parker came in with the treats, "Here we…. go!" He stopped, looked around and said, "What happened?"

They all shook their heads from side to side, "No deal!" said Raf.

"What do you mean 'No deal?' There are 70 candidates to choose from, and these are all serving police officers with at least five years experience," he said in disbelief.

Jules, the clever one, shivelled her seat around and said, "Well, Boss, I don't know where they've been getting their experience because they sure as hell don't know how to shoot... Here's one Boss," she said as she opened a file. "Markmanship score: 30%" Sam laughed so hard he fell off his seat. A scene flashed across his mind of them weaving and ducking as the new recruit fired his weapon in fear for life and limbs.

Ed Lane was not amused at the quality of candidates.

"I'm sure that's a typo," said the Boss, his brows furrowed.

Sam soon gathered himself together, "Something's wrong… what do these guys think they're applying for?" he said. "Anyway, that looks like food…" he said pointing at the boxes with his chin.

Parker placed them on the middle of the table, "Go ahead, help yourself. I'll try to find out what the hell happened." He marched out of the room to make sense of why they got unfit applicants. The rest of the team took advantage of the kindness of his heart.

"Something's missing…" said Ed.

"A double double," said Jules. And they both turned to look at Sam.

"Hell no," he said shaking his head vigorously, "I'm not goin' to Timmy's."

Raf offered to go, "Write it down, I won't be responsible for wrong orders." They scribbled down what they wanted, Raf read every one of them and paused when he held up Sam's. "What the fuck is this?"

"What's the problem, you can't read it?" said the blonde one.

"No one can read it," he said. He showed it to Jules who laughed her head off at Sam's chicken scratch. She knew Sam's preference for coffee so wrote it legibly. "That's more like it," said Raf. "Here," he passed the piece of paper back to Sam, "Use it in the toilet."

While they waited for Sgt Parker to return and for Raf to bring them their coffee, they compared files. "Listen to this," piped up Leah, "This one's promising. Markmanship: 100% (War Games)." And she laughed her head off.

"War Games did you say?" asked Jules, ""You know what guys I have a hunch, I'll be right back." She got up and went to see Kira who was subbing at SRU for six months. Minutes later, Greg Parker and Jules walked back arm-in-arm with big smile on their dial, just behind them was Raf with their coffee.

They all gathered round the table to enjoy their very relaxing morning tea, "Greg Parker enlightened them, "Ok, we know what happened. An ad was posted online and on precincts' billboards asking for candidates to apply and it said, 'Geek preferred'." They all ahh'd.

Parker bit down on his chocolate muffin, he washed this down with coffee and said, "Ok, we have to re-word the ad so we get the right candidates. Any suggestions?"

Ed's suggestion was to write the job ad in a manner that was specific: "Temporary position to join SRU Team One. Must have high marksmanship, athletic, intelligent, experienced, good personality. Emotionally stable, computer savvy."

Sam said, "We might as well ask Jason Bourne to apply."

Raf added, "You forgot to add good-looking on the list."

"Guys, we really gotta crack on here. We can't keep borrowing Toby from Team 3 again, Donna's getting antsy about it."

"Ok," said Ed Lane, "You write the ad, genius."

Greg Parker smirked and took up the challenge. "Just you wait, we'll get the right candidates in no time at all."

And, they ate morning tea happily until the first "hot call."


	8. XFactor, SRU Style

_Author's Note: This story is really just for a laugh, I agree that the incidents in this chapter are unlikely to happen in real life… but I suppose one can't be too sure. Stranger events have happened. Hope it's at least a giggle._

**X-Factor, SRU Style**

The Sargent was right, it was spot on!

The quality of candidates got better. Marksmanship was remarkably higher this time with a group average of 90%. Fearless Leader said, sagely, that the right recruit with the right disposition and aptitude could be honed to become better, faster and sharper.

The five they short-listed were pretty even in the firing range. Ed Lane was pleased that the wannabes looked keen, eager to learn and most of all, could tell where the target was. Parker and Ed Lane asked them to wait at the lobby until the next "audition" was lined up.

Team One went to the briefing room to decide what to do next. Jules suggested testing the candidates' computer skill had to be a priority on the basis that, "working in the truck geeking was what Spike did for the Team, mostly anyway, ergo," she said, "his replacement would be expected to do pretty much the same thing."

Raf looked at Jules with glowing admiration, "Ergo," he repeated, "Did you say ergo? What does that even mean?"

Jules smirked and said, "FYI: Ergo is Latin for therefore." They all ahh'd.

"Pay attention children," said Greg Parker, "Let's start with the best marksman, if he passes the test, we can dismiss the rest."

"Humm," said Leah, "Don't speak too soon."

Ed retorted, "I didn't know you're superstitious?"

"No," she said with a twinkle in her eyes, "Just realistic."

Sam had a question, "But… but, how are we going to test their computer skill? It's not like we would even know if they're doing the right thing… we're not geeks."

"Silly," said Jules, "We'll just get him to patch into the camera on the street corner. That should be easy. All he needs to do is demonstrate to us he could think on his feet…"

Raf interrupted, "You mean bum. Think on his bum…"

Jules turned to him, "Raf! Quit it. You're channelling Spike. Very annoying." The rookie gave her a puppy face. She punched him in the gut.

The brunette continued, "Seriously, we just need to see, for example, if he knows who to contact to make it happen. We all know the drill."

"Ok," they agreed. They're all on the same page again.

The Team led the candidates to the garage where the Command Truck was parked. Greg called on the first candidate, starting with the one they felt was the best.

"Right, Anthony, we need you to demonstrate your ability with the computer. See that camera there," he pointed out the one on the street corner, "patch to that."

Anthony looked a little pale, "How long do I have to complete this task?"

Greg thought about it for a second, "We need your computer skill on 'Hot Calls' so the quicker the better. In a life-and-death situation, we don't have much time so I suppose it would also be a test of how fast you can do it?"

"With what computer would you like me to do this?"

"There's a first rate computer inside the command truck," he opened the door, the Team gathered around eager to see what would happen next. Anthony didn't move and turned paler if that was even possible.

"Anything wrong?" asked Sargent Parker.

The wannabe said, "Um… I'm claustrophobic." Parker's jaw fell to the ground, Lane nudged Jules and said, "Claustro, what?"

Jules replied with a snigger, "Claustrophobia, fear of tight, enclosed spaces."

The Fearless Leader said, "Seriously," his eyebrows went up to touch the ceiling.

Leah whispered, "I told you so…."

Parker was dumbfounded, "That wasn't in your file?"

Anthony replied, "I didn't think its gonna be a problem… it's not at work. I work in the RCMP's computer nerve centre," he looked at the mammoth vehicle, "Not in a truck."

Parker rubbed his bald head in frustration. Watching him to do it, Jules imagined his head as a lamp, the Sargent rubbing his nuggin' made her think that a big, fat genie would come out of Greg's head. It started her in a fit of belly laughing.

Her laughing fit was so contagious the others laughed, too. Anthony didn't know what was funny but he laughed with them anyway, which made everyone laugh some more.

When they were all laughed out Parker took Anthony aside and said sorry he wasn't the right fit for SRU. He wannabe SRU felt very sad but said he understood.

Next in line was the youngest of the bunch, 23 and a know-it-all, "Right, Phillip patch to the camera there." Greg opened the door to the Command Truck and let the young one in.

"Cool," he said as he swept his eyes inside the Truck giving it a detailed inspection. He turned on the computer, switched on all the apparatus. The Sargent was mighty impressed. "Ok, I'll leave you to it, let me know when you're done."

Twenty minutes later Phillip wasn't done! "What the hell he's doin' in there?" wondered Samtastic.

"You better check, Boss," encouraged Leah.

The Boss climbed up the truck to find Phillip engrossed with all the gadgets, "Are you done?" he asked good-naturedly.

"Oh, sorry," said Phillip, "I got distracted with the cool stuff. Any minute now," he replied gleefully. Sargent Parker got off the truck rubbing his head.

"So, what happened in there?" inquired Raf.

"He got distracted with the cool stuff. Any minute now."

Five minutes later, Phillip called the Boss and said, "It's done." The young fellow was indeed good, '_just a_ _little scatter-brained' _thought Parker. The task was indeed done but he advised the lad he needed to mature a bit more. Young Phillip said he understood.

Greg called the third candidate. This guy, Anderson, was super smart. His IQ was stratospheric. Parker looked at the short bio: Graduated top marks at the University of Toronto with a Juris Degree, _'He should be practising law, instead he went into policing to create order. Nice.'_

He walked Anderson inside the truck, "Right, here's the scenario, a suspect is holding people hostage in a bank, let's call him Michaelangelo Scarlatti, I need you to find information we can use so we can negotiate the hostages to safety."

"What do you mean get information?" he countered, "By what means is that even legal?" Greg Parker exhaled and said, "Son, I'm sorry to disappoint you but out on the field, I haven't got time to argue the merits of what's legal or not… I have people to save."

Parker's brows knitted, "What branch of policing are you in?"

Anderson replied, "SIU."

"Right," Parker said, "Out you go!"

Jules looked at the Boss, "That was quick." Greg Parker replied, "Don't start with me." He felt as tired as a dog that ran a marathon.

The Team could tell it wasn't going well. Raf read that the Sargent needed respite, "Boss, break?"

"Yeah, let's adjourn after a feed, and let's hope there's no 'Hot call'."

Ed advised the two remaining candidates to come back after lunch.

Greg said a prayer… to the unseen genie inside his head.


	9. It Ain't Funny Anymore

**It Ain't Funny Anymore**

They came back from lunch feeling hopeful. Protein in the meat has gone to their head and the sugar in the dessert fuelled a rush of endorphin into their blood stream, so they were good to go.

The fourth candidate was Asian-Canadian. Constable Jonah Chua impressed them with his personality, quick-wit and intelligence. Of the five short-listed, he had the lowest marksmanship although not by much; but his computing skill was freakishly awesome.

"Man, he's more geek than Spike," observed Raf.

Sam added, "He probably hack in his sleep."

It was getting late in the afternoon, the Team still had one more candidate to assess so Sgt Parker asked the Constable to return the next day for a psych evaluation.

"Thank you", he said. He was so happy he shook everyone's hand excitedly; Leah thought she'd lose the ability to use her right hand after the vigorous handshaking. They all watched with interest as Chua skipped out of sight happy as a jay bird.

"Glad we could make someone happy," said Jules with a bemused girlish smile that made her face look very pretty. Sam's heart did a double back flip. The Boss gave his head a playful smack.

The fifth candidate was a character and a half. To say he was interesting wouldn't scratch the surface by a mile.

First, he told them to call him Pirot, "It's been my nickname since high school." He explained it was bestowed upon him by schoolmates not because he was intelligent although he was _that_; rather it was derived from his ethnicity. He was part **P**eruvian, part **I**nuit, part **R**ussian, part **O**mani and part **T**urkish. The young man was exquisitely gorgeous to look at what with all the mixed blood coursing through his veins.

Intrigued, Raf asked how he came to be a one-person melting pot. He explained his maternal grandfather came to Toronto from Russia and married an Inuit woman; and his paternal grandfather came to Canada from Oman and married a young Canadian woman of mixed Turkish and Peruvian bloodline. They all ahh'd.

They were further impressed when he said he spoke five languages: English, Arabic, Russian, native Inuit and Spanish. And, that he has achieved black belt in karate and Tae kwan do.

Sgt Greg Parker felt uneasy. He caught Ed's eyes. He had a fleeting flashback of a conversation they had back when Donna Sabine, before she was the Sargent of Team Three, subbed for Jules. Ed's challenged was sharp and to the point when he, Sgt Parker, came to a crossroad. He appreciated that Donna was exceptionally good at her job but so was Jules Callaghan and she was family. Ed Lane pointedly asked, and rightly so, "When we go out there, are we sending the best team or are we sending a family?" He sensed this same question would be asked again sooner or later.

He visually assessed Oman "Pirot" Sheik al Said. Tall, dark and handsome and if he could shoot, hack and negotiate in five different languages then Officer Scarlatti could well be consigned to history. He was inwardly feeling like traitor already and he wasn't alone.

The time came for Pirot to demonstrate his computer abilities, needless to say, he passed with flying colours.

Greg asked him to return the next day for a psych evaluation. Pirot was delighted but didn't show the same child-like enthusiasm as Chua, it was clearly two different personalities reacting to the same good news.

The Boss silently observed that Pirot was aware he was a cut above the rest and _that_ may be a problem in itself. _'Maybe he's too good that he can't connect with mere mortals,'_ he mused.

The Team went back to the briefing room to discuss the candidates.

"So what do you think?" Parker asked as he flopped himself down on the big arm chair, pooped as.

Jules gave her two-bits in. "I like Chua. I think he'd be a perfect fit to our Team. He reminds me a little of Spike. Pirot comes in too strong, he's too perfect." Jules made air quotes when she said 'perfect'.

"I agree," said Leah, the two female fist-bumped. "Call it woman's intuition. But I have a hunch Pirot is too good to be true."

"What do you think?" Greg deliberately sought Ed's opinion.

"I'd hold my judgment until after the psych eval. I don't subscribe to this unscientific woman's intuition thingy," he said with a wink.

Raf was very quiet, Jules said, "Hey, I hear your brain tick-tocking… what's up?" He smiled and thought nothing ever escaped the little dynamo's observation. "Just thinking if one of them proved to be as good; or better than Spike, what would we do?"

Samtastic shook his head slowly from side to side, "Not gonna happen. He's family."

Then Greg heard the dreaded challenge from his Team Leader, "When we sent a Team out there, are we sending the best Team or are we sending a family?" He raised an eyebrow. They all needed to hear it. None of them were irreplaceable. There was always someone out there nipping at their heels, waiting for just the right opportunity to get in.


	10. The Erudite, Mr Pirot

**The Erudite, Mr Pirot**

Before psych evaluation they decided, firstly, to see Pirot negotiate a hostage to safety. The intention was not to see how well he could do it; they were all quite aware there would be shortcomings. After all, negotiating people to safety was an on-going learning process on a permanently steep learning curve. There would be plenty enough time and opportunity to practice the craft at SRU. What they needed to find out was did Pirot have it in him to connect with people.

They came in early to plan the scenario and to stage the faux hostage taking. Jules appeared at the door dressed in street clothes with a "double double" to fire up all her cylinders. Behind her was Sam Braddock in white muscle shirt and ripped jeans. Today Sam would be the "hostage-taker" and Jules was going to be his hostage. Just by the looks of them, the Boss worried that Sam was going to enjoy this day too much.

Pirot arrived at 9:00am sharp. Not only was he punctual, he was dressed sharply, too. They all observed there wasn't a hair out of place. The clothes were starched and ironed. The shoes glistened in the light. Raf and Sam glanced down to check their reflections in each foot.

"Hello Pirot, are you ready?" greeted Ed Lane. Pirot nodded confidently and said, "As ready as I can ever be." As far as everyone was concerned, the start to the day can't get any better. "Right," Sgt Parker said, "let's head for the kill house"

They strolled together but Greg walked alongside Pirot to brief him of the scenario that would soon unfold. He explained Sam and Jules' roles and what they hoped to see in him as he "negotiate" Jules to safety. The amazingly good-looking, Pierce Brosnan look-alike smiled, "I got it, Boss."

Greg Parker could not help but be impressed with the young man. The blood mix was indeed an amazing concoction. Pirot could, Greg observed, be a Pakistani, Spanish, English, Russian, American, Italian even with the right clothes and a few choice disguises. _'A Chameleon in the flesh.'_

He had an air of aristocratic arrogance in him which wasn't a bad thing, but it worried Parker that with such air of grace he would find it hard to connect with ordinary street people. At any rate, he would soon find out if his hunch was right.

Sam and Jules went up to the second storey while the rest stayed below under the window. The staging looked fairly realistic when Sam stuck his head out using Jules as a human shield. "Assholes," he said, "Go away or I'll kill her." He retreated inside with Jules in his grasp.

Greg gave the megaphone to Pirot and said with genuine interest "Go ahead, show us…"

Pirot spoke clearly, "I'm Constable Omar Sheik al Said, but you can call me Pirot, what's yours?" They heard the wannabe introduced himself in his full name, then gave his informal name and encouraged the hostage-taker to call him it. He scored a point just for that.

Sam bellowed back, "Why do you wanna know? You wanna be my boyfriend asshole. I don't do men," said the tough eye-candy.

"I want to know…," he said in his properly modulated voice, "…because I want us to be able to communicate. I want to be able to address you by your name."

Immediately, the Team's eyeballs danced and they sought each other out, thinking _'Communicate?' 'Address?' 'Who does he think he's talking to? The Chairman of the Board?'_

Inside the kill house, Sam looked at Jules who pulled a funny face which got Sam going in a laughing fit. She kicked him, "Get your act together."

The blondie got a grip and shouted, "I don't wanna communicate and I don't wanna be addressed by you. Go away."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Pirot said in his formal University English, "The safety of the hostage is paramount. So it is of great importance that we speak of her release."

Raf covered his face to hide a fit of giggle, Very soon, he thought, he'd have to run for a dictionary just to understand what the negotiator was saying. Ed was thinking exactly the same, although he was the Team's tough disciplinarian this time he too was losing it. He "sshhh" Raf with an undisguised smile. The rookie grinned back and said, "I'm making it my paramount objective to keep it together."

They heard Sam return verbal fire, "Paramount? Wha'd ya mean paramount? I ain't makin a movie although I admit I'm very good-looking," he was being deliberately cheeky in the hope Pirot would get the hint that speaking Queen's English didn't get one very far with hostage takers.

Pirot carried on nevertheless, "Yes, I agree you are good looking but when I said Paramount I wasn't referring to movie making. I was referring to the dominant reason for negotiating with you and that's the release of your hostage."

"Well, if you want this to end, find me another negotiator. I'm not talking to you." Sam quit talking. They ended with a classic _Cool Hand_ _Luke_ failure to communicate.

So Sgt Parker concluded that while Constable Omar Sheik al Said could speak five languages fluently, he couldn't speak from the gut or the heart. He could speak eruditely from his learned mind; _that_ unfortunately never got people out of danger.

The Boss decided to cut to the chase and asked the Team to give him and Pirot privacy.

"How did you think you did?" he asked sympathetically.

Pirot reflected on it and said he was disappointed in himself, "I think I could have done better but I wasn't getting through."

"Do you know why?"

Pirot took a stab in the dark, "Because I didn't speak his language?"

The Boss nodded and said, "That and because you were intellectualising the occasion. It didn't call for intellect, it was calling for gut feel."

The high achieving young man looked deflated, the Boss whose life's calling was to comfort the afflicted said, "Don't get down on yourself. You're very gifted. You need to find the right place to use your gift. With your chameleon-like characteristic you'd do very well in espionage. May be you should be looking into a career with CSIS or the Foreign Service. Your language skills would come in handy there, too."

Pirot's eyes brightened like two flashlights, "Yeah, you're right. That's where I could use my negotiation skills, I can out-anal anyone around the conference table." Parker laughed out loud as he pictured Pirot holding his counterparts hostage to the conference table because they couldn't agree on what punctuation mark to use.

The young wannabe flashed a handsome smile, shook hands with Sgt Parker, he said sincerely, "Thanks, I learned a lot from you today. It's my great pleasure to have come into contact with you."

Sgt Parker smiled, he didn't know what to say to that, but he clasped the young man he had learned to admire in the arms and said, "Right back at ya, kiddo."


	11. The Irrepressible Constable Chua

** The Irrepressible Constable Chua**

Up next was the wet behind the ear Constable Jonah Chua. Parker perused his file. Age: 25. Height: 5'9 (175m) Weight: 140 pounds (63.5 kg) Language skills: Three (Mandarin, Cantonese, English) Marksmanship: 90%. Year Joined RCMP: 2007 University Degrees: Double major (Economics and Mathematics). Special abilities: Electronics and Cyberforensics.

Parker closed the file. Based on two previous meetings, there was camaraderie between him and the Team, something that didn't escaped the keen observation of Sgt Parker. He reckoned this had something to do with the fact that the wannabe was similar in temperament to Spike. But one thing nagged the Bald Wise One, Jonah Chua was Spike Scarlatti on steroid. An ADHD version.

The Sargent caught himself worrying he was getting ahead of himself. It was unlike him to let anxiety do the talking. It was too soon to worry about ADHD in as much as Jonah still had to show his negotiation prowess, _`or lack of,'_ thought Sgt Parker.

"Please call him in," the Boss instructed Leah Kearns who was standing nearest the door.

The ex-firey went to get Jonah who had been waiting in the lobby much to the relief of a very anxious looking Peter at the despatch desk. Leah glanced back to find Peter with both hands pressed together in a prayer of thanks, eyes lifted to high heavens. She stifled her laughter, _`This one's for the book.'_

They all went back to the kill house to simulate the same scenario. Parker walked with Jonah to give him a briefing of what was expected of him: "Three words to remember," the Boss said, "Connect, Respect, Protect."

Sam and Jules returned to their place on the second storey of the kill house. The Team gathered under the window. Greg gave the megaphone to Jonah, patted him in the back and said, "Get Jules out of there."

They looked up. Sam had Jules in a "chokehold" and was screaming profanities and threats, "Go away or I'll kill her."

Constable Jonah started by introducing himself, "My name is Constable Jonah Chua, you can call me Jonah. What's yours?"

"Asshole!" Sam shouted back.

"Ok, asshole," Jonah said to the hilarity of the Team.

"Who you callin' asshole?" Sam bellowed back himself trying desperately to get a grip.

"Oh, didn't you say that was your name? Let's start again. My name's Jonah, what's yours?

"Sam."

"Ok, Sam," he said in a mild manner, "What seems to be the problem?"

The question threw Sam slightly off his game, he didn't expect it. It wasn't a question he could answer with monosyllable. _'Good move, Chua.'_

"This slut was two-timing me, I can't let that happen. I love her and she just treated me like trash and dated my best friend. My best friend! "

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear to that. That's really bad. I'm sure you feel betrayed." They all held their collective breath, `_Where he going with this?'_

"Damn right I do."

"I'm sure you feel angry and upset."

"Damn straight I do." Sam found himself agreeing with Jonah, who was validating his feelings, not contradicting them as he expected the wannabe to do. Then Jonah changed tack, "What's her name, Sam? Can you at least tell me her name?"

"Jules." Humanising the victim, that earned Jonah another point.

"I won't lie to you Sam, killing Jules will not make you feel better and you'll go to jail."

"I don't care if I go to jail as long as she's dead."

"If that's what you want then we should spend the last remaining time you have as a free man talking about people or things that make you happy, who makes you happy, Sam?."

Sam didn't respond. Jonah continued to make a connection, "You know what makes me happy Sam? My turtle Jennifer. I'd like to think I make her happy, too. Without me she'd have no one to feed her, look after her aquarium or take her to the Vet. If I go to jail, she'd die of a broken heart."

Sam and Jules looked at each other. He whispered to her," Seriously, a turtle called Jennifer."

Jonah persisted, "Who makes you happy, Sam?"

Sam answered, "My little sister Natalie."

"Natalie…. That's a beautiful name. Do you think she'll miss you if you go away for a long time, Sam? Is there anyone in the world worth leaving Natalie for?"

The question was well posited and sounded well meaning, Sam felt Jonah connected with him, so he said, "I suppose not."

"That's right Sam, Natalie would be sad not to have her big brother around. I'm sure she'd want you to vet her suitors, check out her future husband, And you can't do that from jail. Let Jules go, Sam. Think of Natalie and think of all the things you can do together you'll miss out on if you're in jail."

"She's coming out," Sam said unseen from the window. Jules came out of the kill house with her arms up.

Parker thanked Jonah and said he'll be in touch. The wannabe thanked them all for their time and skipped out of HQ. The Team huddled back in the briefing room.

The Boss opened the discussion, "So, what do you guys think?"

Sam said "He's quirky but that's probably what we need around here. His negotiation still has a lot to be desired but it wasn't worse than me when I was starting."

"Yeah, I heard you called the hostage-takers jackass!" said Raf laughing.

"I think he's promising, but we may have to wean him off Jennifer," said Jules.

"What seems to be the problem, Boss? Ed asked Greg.

"Nothing really, I'm just a little worried that he has attention deficit disorder," he said matter-of-fact.

"Nothing a ban on junk food wouldn't solve," said Sam.

"Or a gag," added Raf.

_`If only it was that simple,'_ he thought. At any rate, everyone agreed that the Constable was the perfect fit. He dismissed everyone and got busy with the paper chase, personnel transfer was never straight-forward. It seems everything had to be in triplicate.

Next, he called Constable Jonah Chua to advise him of his start date. The constable's initial reply was, "May I put you on hold?"

Parker said, "Of course."

Then, he heard a huge whoop and many overlapping voices speaking in what he reckoned must be Chinese. He couldn't work out whether they were happy noises or angry noises. A minute later, the Constable was back on the phone, "Tomorrow, yes, I'll be there tomorrow."

Parker replaced the phone back on its cradle and wondered what on earth just happened. He rested his hand on the personnel file and signed, `Finally…rest for the wicked.' As he got up to put the file back in the cabinet he absently flipped through the pages. A yellowy envelope became detached and fell out, he opened it and read the letter, "Oh dear, not again."


	12. A Mask of Bounding Happiness

_Author's Note: This is partly inspired by a true story. It's stranger than fiction to those who have not experienced, first hand, the traditional significance of being a first born son in the Chinese culture. _

**A Mask of Bounding Happiness**

The young constable arrived at SRU HQ bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The Boss met him at the lobby with a satisfied grin, "Ready?" Jonah nodded like an eager beaver evidently excited to join the ranks of elite police officers. He beat over 100 candidates to get here, it didn't matter that it was only for six months' secondment.

Greg gave him a tour and introduced him to members of Team Four who were nearing the end of their shift. It was nice remarked Sgt Troy to his Team One Counterpart to have a fresh face, "He'll be a breath of fresh air around here. We're mostly a bunch of jaded old men."

"Speak for yourself," said Sam who was just coming in carrying his kit in a holdall over his shoulder. "I'm forever young."

"Sure," said Team Four's main man, "Just don't sing it."

"I'll sing," offered Jules, they didn't notice the little dynamo standing behind Sam. Jonah's first impression was they weren't just a bunch of professionals put together by a common uniform. There's a strong bond between them forged by shared experiences and a common goal. He felt like an intruder, an observer. He stood silently watching the ritual of greetings, teasing, and back slapping. In one sense, he wanted to be invisible so as not to interfere with the group's dynamic.

Invisibility wasn't to be, "Welcome," Jules extended her hand to Jonah. "These guys givin' you a hard time yet?" He cracked a smile and took her hand, giving it a firm squeeze.

Before long Leah was in their midst too, "Hi guys." She turned to Jonah, "Welcome kiddo," giving his arm a friendly tap. She wasn't keen to shake hands with the young recruit after the first time.

"Oh, by the way, I don't know what's goin on down at the car park but a truck is hauling a Jag. Who drives a Jag anyway?" she asked.

"Oh no," said Jonah.

He rushed down intent on confronting the truck driver, the rest of SRU followed out of curiosity. It was a Jaguar-XF 2012 model in silver. Raf couldn't help his primal response to the sexy machine, he wolf whistled at it but thought he'd have his in black, thank you very much. And there was Jonah on the phone speaking in Mandarin. He was angry and clearly embarrassed, it became clear to them what it was about when he reverted to English, "If you think for one minute you could make me come back to the family business, you're making a big mistake. I don't care." He hanged up and went away to be by himself.

Greg Parker exhaled; the shit had hit the fan but he didn't expect it to be so soon. He found the letter written five years ago by chance, so he was at least glad that he wasn't clueless about the nature of the drama that unfolded at the car park.

Mr Ching Yin Chua wrote to the Police' Human Resources Department when his only son and his first born joined the Force as a newbie. In it, he strongly stated that the Police Department should refuse his son's entry into the Force; not that it had any bearing in the decision-making process. The recruit was willing and able; there was no reason to decline his application. The letter was never shown to the recruit but was put on file.

Parker asked everyone to go with the look on his eyes, the young lad needed privacy and they would accord him this. Greg approached the young recruit who apologised for the outburst, "I'm sorry." His eyes were tear-stained. '_So the bursting out of the seams happiness was a front.'_

"Would you like to tell me what's goin on here?"

Jonah swallowed, "It's nothing really, it's just that my parents refused to accept that I'm my own person and I make my own choices. They decided when I was born to make my life's choices for me. It doesn't help that I'm the only son and the eldest. I have three younger sisters but they don't count for shit in their eyes."

"They want you to run the family business, anything to do with the largest electronic retailer in the Northern Hemisphere?" Greg asked casually. Jonah nodded.

Parker smiled, "So, you're turning your back to a quarter of $500 million."

"All of it in fact…if I just do what they want. You know, toe the line. My sisters will not inherit the business… not without fighting for their share in the Court of Law. It's old fashioned and unjustified."

"And your sisters will take this matter lying down?" Parker asked in disbelief.

Jonah shrugged his shoulder, "They have nothing to fear from me, I'm this close to being disowned," showing Parker two fingers half an inch apart.

"I did economics and mathematics at University to please them but business was not what I want to do. I've always been resistant to the path they paved for me. But if you think I've had it bad, spare a thought for my youngest sister. She was meant to be the insurance son. They were very disappointed to have another daughter. My father had not shown her love and affection. "

"How old is she?"

"Joanna's ten. Bright, pretty and adorable. I'm going to apply to become her legal guardian."

"Something else is bothering you?"

Jonah shrugged again, covered his face with his palm, "They've changed the lock to my flat but they were at least merciful enough to let me have Jennifer."

"So the turtle is real?"

"Yeah, I've had her since I was 12. She's goin' to outlive me," he said with a smile. "Been my faithful companion for half my life."

Jonah looked at Greg, the eyes searching, "Boss, how did you know about my family business?"

"I did some research," he smiled and patted the young man on the back, "Ready for your first day or would you rather be off and solve your living arrangement."

"I'm ready. I have a few things and Jennifer, I'll collect them from my friend after shift. I'll probably stay in a hotel while I look for a place." He stood up and faced Parker, "Boss, can we keep this between us?"

"You can count on it, son." He answered with affection.

\The day went by quickly with so much to learn and absorb. They were grateful for a quiet day not lest because they had a newbie who although was a quick learner was better off settled before his baptism of fire.

At the end of shift, Jonah asked Raf for a lift home, "Sure, no worries. Where to?"

Jonah appeared to hesitate and then said, "Yorkville."

"Yorkville," said Raf. He tried to remember what he knew of the district, only one stood out _`the 22__nd__ most_ _expensive_ _street_ _in_ _the_ _world_.' "Where in Yorkville?" he smiled secretly enjoying Jonah's discomfort.

"Prince Arthur… to collect my things. I've been kicked out."

Raf didn't say anymore until they reached the Prince Arthur development, "Buddy, if you need a place to stay, you're welcome but it'd be couch surfing."

"It's ok, I should have another place soon. Thanks." They slapped hands. Jonah thumped the side of Raf's car lightly to signal he should drive off. On the way up to get the few materials things he owned, Jonah fished his Centurion American Express card from his wallet and tossed it out. He knew the black titanium card would have already been cancelled. The last remaining financial string was cut. From now on, he would rely on himself to get by. He had to be strong because soon he would be a "parent" to a precocious 10 year old.

Parker thought about his new recruit, yes, he decided he has room for another in his heart and then he wondered how Wonder Spike was doing!


	13. Jonah and the Whale's First Hot Call

**Jonah and the Whale's First Hot Call**

It would have happened sooner or later, the alert over the public address system and the blaring siren pumped adrenaline-infused blood round their circulatory system. Reaction was immediate. It seemed their nerve endings were hardwired to the external stimuli of siren and flashing light. Everyone was dressed in combat gears within 60 seconds, weapons collected, comm link turned on and the earpiece firmly hooked around the contour of their ear. "Peter, feed me on the fly," instructed Sgt Parker as per usual.

They rushed down to the garage like a well-oiled machine, Raf noticed the newbie was missing, "Where's Jonah?" A voice came through the wireless comm link, "Inside the whale."

"What the…?" Raf had taken it upon himself to be unofficial big brother to Jonah, in the same way Spike was to him. He was about to reprimand the newbie for choosing the wrong occasion to muck around when Jonah clarified, "You know… Jonah and the whale?"

"You mean you're in the Truck?"

"Yeah, you guys are too slow" he replied with the cockiness of someone with something to prove.

"Don't be cocky young Jonah." It was the Sargent gently reminding the recruit to take this "Hot call" with a life-and-death sense of urgency it deserved. It wasn't ideal to show off like a peacock.

"Yes, Boss… will be good, promise." He said sufficiently chastised. Deep within he sensed heightened anticipation, he was finally going to cut his teeth in a live action. Greg and Ed gave each other a knowing glance. They're about to break-in a new recruit, never a good thing at the best of times. A "hot call" was another kettle of fish altogether, it brought the level of risk up a notch. They hoped young Jonah had it in him to listen and obey; and, learn in the process.

They were all out of HQ within two minutes of the "Hot Call". Not a minute was wasted; on the way over Peter patched the first responder, Constable Cindy Subero to Sgt Parker, "Tell me what you know."

The young constable referred to her notes, "Sarge, the guy's Raffy Arnold, 28 self-employed electrician, husband of Jackie Arnold, 25. They have a baby daughter Faith, 8 months. Raffy is holding a repo man hostage, name… Angelo Evans. His partner is with me, Graham Reynolds."

"Let me speak to him." The Constable passed on the radio to Reynolds. "Hello?" he said unsure what to say. It brought a smile to the Sargent's face and a playful wink from Jules.

"Graham, what can you tell me?"

"Not much, Officer. I was outside prepping the truck for repo. I'm just the muscle. It's Angelo's job to see to the paper work. He went to speak to Raffy in their apartment… to give the repo paper. Next thing I heard were shouting… then they were at each other's throat. Angelo was able to get away but the man chase him down, he had a knife. He caught up with Angelo and dragged him back inside. He said if I move his truck he will kill Angelo."

"Thanks, pass me back to the Constable." Reynolds handed the radio over. Parker gave instruction for a perimeter to be set up and for nosey news people to be moved out of the way. Soon the neighbourhood was filled with sound of sirens and just as quickly as the brake was applied, it all fell quiet.

The Team gathered around Sgt Parker and Ed Lane, Team Leader waiting for instruction which came swiftly in a practiced way.

"Jonah, in the truck… find everything you can about Raffy Arnold. Jules, talk to the neighbours… find out what they know about this young family. Raf, scope the perimeter of the apartment, you know what to look for." The trio went off without a second glance to do what they were told. The rest stayed nearby to wait for further instruction.

Inside the apartment, Raffy tied Angelo in a dining chair with duct tape. He ordered Jackie to take the baby into the bedroom, "Don't come out, whatever happens." The young wife and mother begged her husband tearfully to reconsider what he was doing, "Please Raffy, please don't do this. You can get killed. Please don't do this. Look at Faith, look at her, do you want her to grow up without a father?"

Raffy was deaf to her pleading. He looked distant and unseeing. He looked at the baby in Jackie's arms but seemed unmoved. All he knew was he's had enough of struggle-street and enough of people who kicked him around like he's a piece of shit undeserving even of common courtesy and respect.

First, there were the contractors who don't pay him what he was owed unless he grovelled. How was he to provide for his family when he was always out of pocket sub-contracting? Then, there were the banks that kept calling and sending harassing letters. "Your credit card is over due." "Your line of credit is overdrawn." "Your car repayment is late." On and on it went. The calls didn't respect family time either. And soon the demands were coming in by text message, by emails, by people.

Then there were the bills that kept piling up. Electricity, water, gas, rates, repair bills, supplies for his business, medical bills, tax bills, parking tickets; followed by notices to charge fees and interest.

Then, there were food and grocery bills for baby's stuff. They had been living on noddles for weeks. Bread without butter. Coffee without milk or creamer. Winter without heating. Summer without air conditioning. What else was there to give up?

He worked his butt off since he left school. He started out as an electrician's trainee getting paid peanuts. When finally he became a full-pledged electrician after years of low-paying apprenticeship akin to slavery, he celebrated his accomplishment with wide-eyed expectation. Hopeful that work would start coming. It wasn't to be. He borrowed money to invest in a utility truck and bought his electrician's equipment - none of them cheap - then the global financial crisis hit like a tornado in the building landscape. It had been three years since the GFC and he still couldn't get traction. He couldn't get his head above water. And now there was _this_ baby who needed looking after, this much-wanted, much-loved baby for whose future he couldn't provide. It was all rat shit.

Parker approached Reynolds, the repo man's second, for Angelo's number. The Boss rang it, "Come on, answer it," Greg urged to himself. With his mouth gagged with a dishrag, Angelo used his eyes to beseech Raffy to answer the phone. He moaned into the rag to get his captor's attention whose demeanour appeared catatonic. He sensed it didn't bode well for him, he surmised that if the guy's state of mind was of someone resigned to die, then perhaps who wanted to take someone with him so despite his best effort to remain calm, the poor repo man wetted himself.

It rang out. Greg rubbed his face and mentally counted to 10 before he tried again. "No joy," he turned to face Ed Lane who as usual looked thoughtful.

"Boss, Raffy Arnold is a registered gun owner," Jonah's voice came through their earpiece. "He has a registered .40 caliber Smith and Wesson." The two bald men looked at each other, telepathically transmitting messages between their brains, the short version of which was "That's a game changer."

Greg felt a raised sense of urgency to connect to Raffy. "Find me another number, Jonah."

"Yes, Boss."

Jonah coolly checked with the telephone service and found out that the landline was disconnected due to non-payment, he tried the wife's number, it was answered on the first ring. "Hello?" she said tearfully. The recruit felt as if a cold bucket of ice was dumped on his head, he was momentarily speechless. He thought rightly he should have given the number to the Boss to ring, not overstep his bound and then be tongue-tied.

"Hello?" she said again, Jonah came to his senses, "This is Constable Jonah Chua, hold on while I patch you to my Boss." He placed Jackie on hold to let the Boss know he got the wife on the other line, "Good work, patch her through." As Jonah did so, he let out a sigh of relief. He came so close to losing the plot.

"This is Sargent Parker. Jackie, right?"

"Yes," she said tearfully. "He's a good man, my husband. Please believe me, he's a good man." She said imploringly.

"I know," Parker said. "First tell me how you are and the baby."

"I'm good. We're in the bedroom."

"You're in the bedroom. Where's Raffy and the hostage?"

"They're in the living room."

"Ok, Jackie, do you have a way of getting out of the apartment without being seen?" The woman hesitated. Parker sensed a conflicted state of mind. He knew from experience that she was of two minds. If she left him, they might assault the house and kill her husband. If she stayed, she and their baby would be in the line of fire.

Parker worked on her maternal instinct, "Jackie, nothing will happen to Raffy. We will do everything we can to get him out of there and his hostage safe. But we need you and Faith to be out of harm's way. Can you get out of there without being seen?"

She expelled air from her lungs, "Yes, I can go out the back way, through the laundry door."

"Ok, we will get officers to meet you?" Ed and Greg's eyes met. The Team Leader was on to Raf who was already moving towards the laundry door. Leah positioned herself flat on her belly out on the lawn, the scope of her gun trained on Raffy.

Through her scope, she reported to Parker, "Boss, I see the hostage tied up in the chair next to Raffy. He's not moving, he's intensely focused… he appears resigned. It doesn't look good, Boss."

"What else do you see?"

"He's holding the knife but he's not moving. He's sitting very close to the repo man, one swing of an arm, and it's all over for the hostage."

"Leah, keep watch. Jackie and the baby are about to leave the bedroom and head for the laundry. We have to get them out of harm's way. Let me know if he moves."

"Copy that."

Jackie bundled Faith up in her arms and offered the baby her breast nipple. The bub was hungry, suckling would give them the chance to walk out unheard. She opened the bedroom door, padded noiselessly down the hallway while the rest of them held their collective breath. It's was never easy or simple when babies were involved. From the small window, Raf could see Jackie has reached the laundry. He willed her to '_get a move on_,' she opened the door, and Raf was there instantly. He held her arm firmly and covered her as they make distance.

It may have been the sound of the door opening or the change in the temperature in the room, whatever it was triggered a reaction in Raffy. He stood up aggressively to check on his family, "Boss, he may be following them out the back."

"Copy that!" he said, "Ed!"

"I heard…. in position." The sniper and Team Leader covered Raf and the mother and child. Raffy ran out the back screaming, "Jackie! Jackie!" He came out of the back door to come face-to-face with Ed Lane's Remington. He went back inside, slammed the door they heard was a primal scream of despair.

Jackie stopped, "I have to go back." Raf stood steadfast, her eyes talked to his chest. She looked up to see his determined eyes, "I can't let you go back in there. Think of your baby. Think of Faith. She needs you, too." She glanced down at the angelic bub suckling on her breast and she wept.

"It'll be alright. Let's go." He held her by her elbow to the waiting ambulance.

"Jonah…, find me a way to talk to Raffy. Does he have a cell phone?"

"It's disconnected, boss." Parker tried Angelo's phone again. This time someone answered. "You took my family. I would never hurt them." He said in a voice that sounded wounded.

"I didn't take them from you, Raffy. They're here. They're not leaving. I just want them to be out of harm's way while we talk this out, ok?"

"I want to talk to my wife." This was good, a demand was always good.

"Ok, let me get Jackie for you… Raffy, Jackie is feeding Faith right now. While we're waiting for her, can you tell me how Angelo is doing?"

"He's ok."

"Thanks for letting me know," he said sincerely. Jules came to Parker's side, the Boss acknowledged her with his eyes, "Neighbours said that the family has been very quiet. No domestic. Well-liked but no one really knows them. According to the super, the family has been living here for a year. For several months, they've been failing to pay rent on time."

Greg felt a sudden chill. This man had been distraught over a long period. Today's incident was the tipping point; the repossession of his truck, his only means of income, a precipitating factor. It could easily segue from hostage to suicide scenario, or a murder-suicide. He had to make a decision whether to allow Raffy to speak with his wife. The minute he had a chance to "goodbye" it could be all over in minutes.

"We need a distraction," he said to Ed Lane.

"Let's go non-lethal," the Team Leader suggested.

"Go," agreed Parker and then he turned his attention to Raffy. "Raffy, how are you doing there, buddy?"

"Stop stalling, I want to speak with my wife." The despondency had turned to anger.

Leah Kearns still had Raffy on her scope, she kept them up-to-date with the subject's behaviour, "Boss, he's become agitated. He's pacing up and down and visibly upset."

"We don't have much time. Ed what's your ttwenty?"

"In position," Ed Lane had switched from lethal to rubber bullets. "You have to keep him still."

Then Ed Lane said, "He left… I think he's in the bedroom. I'm not liking this, he could be loading his gun."

"We have to go in… rescue the host…" suggested Leah.

"Too late for that," Ed said. "He's reappeared with the gun. I'm guessing it's loaded."

"Let's treat it like it is," said the Boss. This required multiple approaches, so he ordered Jules and Sam to enter apartment, stealth via the back way."

"Copy that." They went round the back and stealthily entered the apartment. They could see the hostage, tied to a chair. They could see Raffy. They could just go for it, but when he scoped Raffy's gun in his optic sight, he noticed the gun was cocked, ready to fire. Sam whispered this info in his comm.

"Raffy, can you come closer to the window, she wants to see you. I'm bringing her closer." It was a dangerous call but the best he could do to get the subject to stay still, give Ed a better view, and get him further away from the hostage.

Parker and Jackie came within view of Raffy but far away enough not to be a shooting target. Raf kept both of them covered. "Keep him talking, don't worry if you hear a shot, it's not lethal." The Boss gave her a reassuring smile, she took the phone and said, "I love you."

"I love you, too. I'm sorry I failed you."

"You didn't fail me, honey. You've been the most wonderful person I've ever come to know." Greg Parker felt goose-bumps all over, it was a suicide call. "Scorpio," he whispered.

"I'm so…" Raffy didn't get to finish what he wanted to say, a shot rang out. Parker hugged Jackie.

Inside, Sam was immediately on to Raffy. He kicked the gun away from the writhing subject, turned him over and placed a knee on the small of his back. He cuffed him and said, "Don't worry, you'll live." He helped him up to his feet, with compassion he said, "Your wife loves you. And your daughter needs you. You'll be ok." Raffy hanged his head in shame and defeat. Tears, snot, saliva dripping out on his shirt. "I'm so sorry," he said.

Jules went to aid the hostage who was by this stage in a state of cardiac arrest. She hurriedly cut the duct tape and spoke firmly on her comm., "EMS…. Possible cardiac arrest."

The critical incident ended with four people saved. Everyone gave each a back slap for a job well done.

"What do you think?" asked Jules of their new recruit.

"I felt like a bystander," he said. "Like you could have done this without me."

The Boss heard what he said, "Oh, don't be saying that, you're as much as part of this success as every one of us."

The new recruit thanked the Boss but still wished he'd see more action. He didn't think being Jonah who's stuck inside the whale was all that exciting. The boss perceived Jonah's disappointment, he murmured to himself, "Huh, if only you knew where the real action is." Again, he wondered about what Spike was doing and how they were doing.

It's been six weeks and not a phone call. No emails. No updates on social media. Nothing. It was like they fell off the face of the earth.

Then he missed the _boy_.


	14. Rite of Passage

**Rite of Passage**

Jonah has been with Team One a month. Overall, he settled in with Team One quite nicely. He was, at 25, the baby of the SRU. Everyone felt naturally protective towards him something that hasn't escaped the notice of Team Leader First Constable Ed Lane.

As he was driving for work, he decided the time for a rite of passage has come, '_Time to be hazed." _Hazing wasn't about doing the ridiculous, although it sometimes ended being that. It was about going through a ritual, without it no one new would feel he belonged to the Group.

If he was honest with himself, they hadn't missed Spike as much as he thought they would although he admitted to himself it was early days yet. And so far, they've been spared the hottest of "hot calls".

'_That's_ _it_,' he said to himself, a bomb call would have made it really sticky without the resident EOD.

He made a mental calculation how long Spike Scarlatti had been away from the "Barn". It took three gruelling weeks to find his replacement, what with the standard by which to measure the recruit by; and, it's now been a month since Jonah joined them. Scarlatti had been away seven weeks in total and nothing has been heard from him. If not for the fact that the FBI had not inquired where the Techie was, they would certainly have thought the worst because it was so unlike Spike to be incommunicado for any length of time.

He was almost surprised when he found himself at the SRU car park, his mind had wandered from Jonah to Spike that he didn't notice he's reached his destination. For him, driving to HQ had become a matter of muscle memory.

Ed said hello to Kira who was back at SRU HQ subbing for Winnie Scarlatti. "All quiet?" he asked rhetorically.

"Yeah the phone's quiet but…" she pointed to Briefing Room with her chin, "been in there for half an hour." Ed turned around to find Sgt Parker in a huddle with Commander Holleran. His brows knitted, wondering what the Senior Police Officer was doing at HQ at seven on a sunny Saturday morning, although in civilian clothes. The Commander would normally be enjoying a round of golf on weather such as today.

The eagle-eyed sergeant waved him in when he spied his Team Leader at the despatcher's desk. He confidently strode into the room, "What's up, gentlemen?" he casually asked as he joined them for the early morning huddle. The Commander greeted the Fearless Leader with a firm handshake. "Good to see you looking well, Ed Lane. Greg and I are just catching up."

Lane's handsome face broke into a relaxed smile, "And here I was thinking we were passed that… come on… you two weren't catching up." He added, "Catchin' up is talkin' about family, sports and the weather." They share a laugh and this time proceeded to catch up on family matters for real.

It wasn't long til Team One started to trickle in for the morning shift, Jules was first to stick her head inside the briefing room, ever the sharp one, she asked, "What's up?"

Parker smirked, "What made you think something's up?"

The Commander winked and followed this up with, "Can't I visit without there being a reason?"

Jules brightened up, crossed her arms in front of her chest and refused to be sidetracked, "Out with it." The three men laughed. Peanut-butter-skinned Holleran turned to Parker and joked, "Remind me not to promote her to Sargent will ya, Greg? She's too bossy for my taste."

"Call them all in, will ya, Jules" said Ed Lane and since neither Greg nor the Commander contradicted him, he knew it was the right order of things. Jules left the room in a jiffy to gather the flock. In a minute, they were in the briefing room but before everyone could be seated, Sam Braddock asked if this was anything to do with Spike.

The Commander eyed everyone. "I'll tell you what I know, which isn't very much, might I add. The Top Brass has received a feeler from Quantico asking to borrow Spike for another year after the six months joint training exercise." They were rendered speechless as they didn't expect this turn of event.

"People above me are discussing this with Quantico as we speak and I'm afraid until we're told officially… we just have to wait. Much of it is above me pay grade. Any questions," Holleran encouraged. He clapped his hands together and added, "Not that I can answer them."

"It's been nearly two months since they left and not a word was heard from them. Why has it been so quiet? Raf asked genuinely concerned.

Holleran shook his head from side to side, "I'm afraid… we will have to wait for Spike to return so we can ask him."

"If there's nothing else let me tell you what I've been told that isn't classified. You'd be glad to know Spike broke a record at Quantico," he paused to let the Team absorb the news. "Spike has the honour of pegging his tail within half a city block during an evasion exercise." Holleran happily reported evidently proud of his man.

"How did he do that?" Sam, a former member of Canada's special forces, and trained in art of evasion was genuinely interested in the detail. He knew from experience it wasn't a piece of cake to shake a trained intelligence officer, much less ping one.

Holleran chuckled as he related what he was told, "Apparently when the evasion exercise commenced, Spike drove off at 40kpm. He was crawling so slowly the tail didn't know how to not become obvious, within half a city block Spike knew who was tailing him. Apparently he blew kisses to them from the rear view mirror."

As the cleverness of Spike's simple maneuver sunk in, Jonah blurted out, "That's brilliant." He couldn't help but be impressed with his predecessor. Now, he wasn't sure if he wanted to be the man who followed after the Legend then failed miserably. The more he heard of Spike's exploits the more insecure he became.

"You're the new recruit?" The Commander asked. "Yes, Sir, Constable Jonah Chua, Sir," the recruit formally replied.

"At ease," Jonah still couldn't relax but made an effort to smile though he was doing it through pained expression. It didn't help his disposition when Holleran said, "Well, that's our man. He's making himself so darn likeable across the ditch that we may not have him back for another 12 months."

He looked to Greg, "I'm off to the golf course. I'll update you all when I know more."

As soon as the Commander departed, Ed Lane asked Jonah to go to the garage to make sure all the equipment were ready and loaded. "There's an inventory list with Kira if you don't have one."

"Ok," he said keen to get out of the Briefing room, he needed fresh air to clear his mind. He wasn't going to get it surrounded by Team One.

"What do you think guys? It seems young Jonah would be with us a wee bit longer, I think we need to get on the business of taking him through his phases. Any ideas?"

"I've got one," said Raf.

"Let's hear it," said the Boss. Raf explained what he had in mind and they all said, "Good idea! Let's do it."

Jonah took care of business in the van, making sure that everything was in working order and loaded them where they should be. There was the "umbrella", "Snake optic cable", "heat-seeking scanner", "sound-amplifying equipment", and the "aerial drone vehicle". He just finished when his beeper went off. He read the message and hurriedly went up to check with Sargent.

"Boss, you called for me?" The cherubic-faced Sargent said he should go through the vests and shields, separate the ones that need replacing, make a requisition report so new ones could be ordered.

"Yes, Boss," he said compliant.

It took Jonah three hours to sort the vests and shields, identify the ones that needed to be replaced, and write a requisition order. Some shields were so beaten up he wondered why they hadn't been thrown out. He went to see Greg to ask if he should toss out the old ones, "No," replied the Boss in case the replacement didn't come quick enough. "Bad shields are better than no shields."

"Yes, Boss," he said.

No sooner had he finished with that when his beeper went off again. He went to see Ed Lane this time. "Boss, you called for me?"

Ed Lane smiled and said, "We reserve Boss for Greg Parker, I'm Ed Lane. Go to the kill house and do a bit of repair will you. It's starting to fall apart on us."

"Yes, Bo…. Ed," he said. Jonah was looking exactly as he was feeling, dogged-tired and deliriously stressed.

He went to the Basement and took the tools he didn't to hammer, screw, bolt down, saw and patch things up. Steps were threatening to come loose, so he screwed them back. One wall was so full of holes, he replaced a panel. After two hours of "home renovation" he packed everything up and stored the tools in the basement.

He had hardly swallowed when he was called up, Sam met him at the despatcher's desk, "We're having a meeting, go to Timmy's and get this will ya," the blonde SRU gave him a list. "Oh, we need them here in 15 minutes."

'_Fifteen minutes.'_ Jonah's brain threatened to go into spasm. It was close to peak-hour and there was no way he could get there and back and wait for the order all in 15 minutes. He practically crawled to his little Mazda and decided it just wasn't possible… _'unless_…'

Jonah phoned a friend, the owner of a franchise near the City. He told him what he needed and delivery time frame of 15 minutes. The friend in turn called the franchise owner nearest the SRU and explained what Jonah needed. "No problem, happy to meet the challenge," said the Franchisor

The friend called Jonah back who in turn excitedly said, "Thank you so much, you saved my ass." He drove over to the location, called the manager from his car phone and paid by credit card to save time. He remembered he hadn't eaten all day so he ordered a tray of mixed sandwiches. He was met by one of the staff at the door. The coffee and the sandwiches were loaded in the car. He didn't even have to park. Jonah drove back to the SRU and accosted Peter who was on his way up to help carry the tray of food.

Jonah came to the briefing door and said, "Was I late? This was the best I can do." He placed the coffee and the sandwiches on the centre of the table and flopped himself down on a chair, all the while thinking that if they asked him to do another task he'd re-consider rejoining the family business although he knew he'd rather kill himself first. There was no fate worse…

He didn't know what happened, but everyone turned to look at him and started clapping. Raf wolf whistled, Jules to hug him and whispered "Well done, young Jonah."

Boss Parker looked at him with pride and said, "What do you think of your hazing? Enjoyed it?"

He looked at all of them, laughed his little heart out and said, "No, not one little bit but happy I belong."

They all partook of the coffee and sandwiches and later Jonah stayed behind to clean up. Leah stayed with him, "You're going to be just fine," she said beaming, "You exceeded our expectation."

"Thanks," he said, looking down on the table, "I've been worried I'd be a disappointment. They're big shoes to fill…"

"We didn't pick you among the hundred of applicants to fill anyone's shoes. You will make your own way. Mark this place your own stamp. You bring something different. Spike was well liked and he's proven himself. You'll have that chance."

He felt his heart skipped and his spirit soared. He finished cleaning and checked his text messages, there was one from Joanna asking if he has time to go see a movie with her, "Yes," he said. "Lil sis c u soon."


	15. Not a Dull Moment and Seriously Troubled

**Not a Dull Moment and Seriously Troubled**

Jonah changed to his street clothes, looking spiffy in his white designer Valentino chemise shirt, stone-washed blue levi jeans and a pair of black Hugo boss loafers. He topped his outfit with a black leather jacket and a ray-ban sunshade. The classy and expensive outfit were from his wardrobe of old, before he became an independent-living Constable on a budget.

At one point, he contemplated donating his whole wardrobe to the charity Op shop as he felt ridiculously overdressed in them now. The appeal of wearing high fashion had waned, whether that was a result of him growing up or growing out of them he wasn't sure. It was likely both.

In the end, he kept them and wore them with genuine disinterest as he saw fit. He reasoned it was only high fashion if he thought of them as such. He was not precious about them either. There was an occasion when he was accidentally showered with lukewarm coffee while dressed in his Armani suit to the terror of the girl who tripped on him. Not that she was horrified she possibly scalded him, no! She was terrified of the replacement cost, if not the laundry bill. For all her troubles, Jonah shrugged his shoulder, removed the stained suit and admonished the girl not to worry about it.

He was on his way to meet his baby sister for a movie date. It's been a while since he's been to a Disney film, there wasn't any other G rated film showing aside from Madagascar so that's where he'd take Joanne.

On the way out, he bumped into Jules who made a comment about how nicely he cleaned up, he gave her an embarrassed smile; in a manner slightly defensive said he was wearing old clothes. Jules wanted to say he didn't have to be self-conscious about what he wore but thought against it. The poor kid was already conflicted, making any further comments would probably just make a mountain out of a molehill, so she simply said, "New or old, you look terrific. Knock her off her feet."

Jonah paused momentarily, "It's a date with my baby sister. She'll knock me off my feet," he said grinning. He waved goodbye and got into his little Mazda. The little red car was all he could afford without going into debt, it took all his hard-earned savings. It never once crossed his mind before, but it often did now, he wondered how most people make ends meet. He was a single bloke earning a pretty decent salary living in a cramped studio unit. He didn't go out much and only been responsible for himself yet he lived from pay cheque to pay cheque. He shook his head in disbelief that he used to spend the equivalent of a month's salary in one day. He felt a tinge of embarrassment for what was once his lifestyle and realised that even for all that spending he was not as happy as he was now.

His destination was the coaching school where Joanna was attending tutorial for chemistry. As big brother, he didn't approved of his 10-year sister having to attend accelerated classes and then being made to sit through more tutorials at the end of school to be best in class. It was inhumane to say the least. It was a blessing at least that she delighted in studying or so it seemed to him. She was nerdy in a cool way. Other kids would have been in rebellion but not little Jo. Yet, deep inside, he sensed that it was all she could do to earn their father's affection and their mother's approval.

She came out of their mother's womb already considered a dismal failure because she was a girl. She was meant to be the insurance son. The heir apparent _if_ the first born didn't march to the beat of the family band or should anything, God forbid, happened to Jonah Chua. But it wasn't to be!

Jonah remembered their father walking away from the hospital suite to attend a business meeting upon seeing the baby girl, leaving their mother in the care of the hospital staff. In turn, their mother rejected Joanne, for _she_ was her shame. She couldn't produce a second heir and it was too much to bear after two older daughters. Joanne was left in the care of a Chinese nanny who thought the world of her; and doted on by her big brother.

Jonah had not seen their father give the little one affection, he thought often and grimly that if he had never seen it then Joanna had never felt it. He feared that without the good affectionate, loving embrace from her own father that his sister could fall victim to the first adult male to walk into her life who'd give her that which she lacked. The potential for abuse, in his mind, was high. He determined very early on that he would be the one male influence in her life, so help him God.

He arrived at the school gate to find Jo all alone by the alcove. _How long she had been standing there waiting for me? _ He felt guilty instantly. She saw him and broke into a silly wide grin. Quick as a flash, she grabbed her backpack that probably weighed a tonne and a cello case. And he noticed, a pair of skates hang around her neck. _She's going to be old before her time_, he thought unimpressed with his sister's work and study load. If he had to guess she wasn't skating to have fun or for play but rather to be in competition.

He parked the little car easily and got out to meet his sister halfway. She dropped everything and jumped up on him excitedly. "Koko," she cried out. An affectionate name that meant big brother in Mandarin. He twirled around with her in his arms, her legs crossed around his waist. He responded with, "Meme," which was little sister in the same language.

They hadn't seen each other for nearly a month, not due to any neglect on his part but because he was busy getting himself settled into his tiny studio. He initially wanted a two-bedroom flat so Jo could move in with him but it proved hard to come by within the range of his budget. He was however determined that their separation would be temporary, he had decided to sell his share portfolio to purchase a two-bedroom flat in the City. He was just waiting for the share market to recover from the doldrums, when that might happen was anyone's guess. Truthfully, there were days when he could believe Osama bin Laden would rise from the dead before the stock market did.

"Which movie are we going to see?" she asked as she was opening the passenger door. Expectant.

"Madagascar," he replied.

"No way," she said. Her face fell, all the energy in her body dissipated.

"Why? What's wrong with that?"

"It's a baby movie," she said as she climbed in the car. She put her seat belt on and continued to stare of his older brother with a look that says "You're unbelievable."

He looked back at her, "You're 10 for crying loud. You're supposed to watch rated G movies."

"But that's so baby, let's watch The Dark Knight Rises please," she said pleadingly.

"Do you know how violent that movie is?" he asked.

"It's no more action than the Terminator," she argued.

"When did you see that?" he asked surprised.

"I downloaded it, it's in my computer." He knew Jo was a precocious kid by any measure. The thought terrified him. This child was too knowledgeable and advanced for her own good. _What else might she have been downloading? _

"I need to check your laptop," he said.

"What for?"

He chastised her, "Young lady, it's to make sure you're not downloading crap stuff and not chatting to dirty old men. Anyway, back to the topic of movies... ratings are there so children can view what's age appropriate."

"Firstly, you're gross. And Secondly, that's just so uncool," she said. "Besides all my friends have seen it, I'm the only one who hasn't and it just isn't fair."

"Your school mates parents let them see these movies?" he asked incredulous.

"D'oh," she said, "Of course, they're mostly 13 you know."

"Thirteen? What's your business hanging out with teenagers for?"

"For your information, they don't let me hang around them, they mostly ignore me but it can't be helped as I'm in the accelerated class. So there!" she said with defiance.

"Jo, you need to stay with kids your age. You need to have meaningful relationships... who do I talk to at school," he asked as he manuevered the car out into traffic.

"Talk to the School Guidance Counselor, her name is Miss Lim, she's stunning. Koko, you'll like her. She's beauuuutiiiifuuuul." She said exaggerating the vowels. "She was nearly Miss Chinatown Toronto." Jonah laughed at her last comment, "What's so funny?" she asked.

He said, "How does one become nearly something? You're either it or not."

"Well, for your information, Miss Lim only lost because she didn't raised more money for charity. It's all about money you know."

"What made you so cynical?" he asked, unsure whether to be pleased that the little one was wise to the ways of the world or saddened that she skipped Innocence 101and fast forwarded to Cynicism 202.

"And besides we all went to watch the Pageant, except you. Miss Lim was the most beautiful of them all and the most talented and the most clever and the most pleasant. There was no way she could have been beaten for the title, especially since the winner had the personality of a shoe."

Jonah laughed out loud, his sister was hysterical in more ways than one. She didn't know what was so funny and demanded he explain himself. "Nothing, you're so cute. Personality of a shoe? Whoever think of that?" he said laughing.

Before they knew it, they were at the shopping mall carpark. They found parking quickly which was a big deal. They decided to eat dinner before seeing a movie, which one, by the way they hadn't agreed on. Dinner though was easy, they both love Japanese food so they homed into a sushi train restaurant. They ate heartily, empty little plates piled up in front of them. She delighted in showing off her expertise with the chop sticks and he showed her his flair.

Stomach full, they wandered around the mall till they got to the cinema. They stared at the signboard that listed all the movies on offer and the start time, "Madagascar," he insisted was the only movie suitable for her age group and which would begin and end close to her bedtime.

"No way I'm going to see that, that's for babies."

"What's for babies?" asked a sweet sounding voice. It was light and feminine. She turned around and blurted out gleefully, "Miss Lim, what are you doing here?" she hugged the School Counselor around the waist and said, "Miss Lim, this is my brother Jonah."

The instant their eyes met Miss Lim's well constructed world almost fell apart, _Oh my God. _She recognised him instantly though she doubted he did. _How long had it been? Ten? Twelve years?_Involuntarily, her eyes moistened. Light danced on the surface of her watery dark eyes as they caught the reflection of neon lights. He was, on the other hand, oblivious to her discomfort and turmoil. _How is it that after many years I still feel the pain?_

Then they heard Jo's voice again, "Jonah, Miss Lim," she said by way of introduction. She tugged at her hand, "Miss, Jonah wants to talk to you about me. Can he come to school to meet you?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat, and smiled down at the little girl she adored, "Yes, of course." she looked up to Jonah who was observing her closely, "Nice to meet you." It was the way she avoided his eyes that gave him a feeling this wasn't the first time they've met but he couldn't put a finger of when and where.

"I gotta go," her attention was back to Jo, "See you Monday." She rubbed her head and glided away like a ballerina. It was the _walk, _then the penny dropped. And Jonah thought, _Shit, shit, shit._

_This is seriously bad._

"Ok, now tell me she's not the most beautiful woman ever!" challenged Jo, her arms on her waist.

"Yes, she's absolutely beautiful," he whispered thoughtful. Oh, his past caught up with him and he wished this day didn't happen at all.

"Do you mind if we just watch DVD at home?" he asked.

"No, I kinda like that. What's on offer?" she asked.

"I've got some anime," he said hoping his true feelings weren't showing.

"Good'oh," she skipped ahead, "But first we have to get popcorn and soda to take home."

Grocery shopping done, Jonah drove home in silence. Jo sat silently next to him and was nearly asleep by the time they got to his place. He checked his 18K gold Rolex, it was almost 10:00 pm, and not once did their parents check in with Jo to find out where she might be. Chances are they were at a function somewhere and weren't aware of their youngest whereabouts. He called the Nanny and told her he's got Jo. The Nanny said she knew because her charge had told her where she'd be. She ended with a reminder to him to let her keep her socks on or she'd wake up in the middle of the night complaining of cold feet. He thought, _I bet Mama and Papa didn't know that about her._

He carried her up to his flat and settled her on the couch. She fitted snugly on it. He removed her jacket and her shoes and covered her with a quilt. He sat down on the floor and felt an overwhelming sense of deep regret.

Miss Lim was Abby Lim, the 10 year old in school he taunted, tormented and yes, bullied, for two years until he moved to another school. Those years of being high and mighty and cruel had haunted him for years, now he must confront his past sins and make amends.

**Just being sorry was not going to be near enough anymore! **


	16. The Master and the Apprentice

**The Master and the Apprentice**

Life in the SRU carried on as usual with a mixed element of humour, stress, excitement, near misses, hot calls and joy. Jonah passed his first four months without incident and was settling in quite nicely when out of the blue someone came to darken their hallway.

"Spike," Jules bellowed from the treadmill. She hastened to stop the machine and waited for a second before jumping off, "Long time no hear." The Techie lifted her off her feet and spun them both around, "Put me down," she said, "or I'll shoot you." He put her down quickly and paid his attention to everyone else.

"Where's Win?" Jules asked.

"Somewhere," he said with dimples to go.

"You guys must be immensely enjoying it at Quantico," said Fearless Leader Ed Lane who came to grab him by his shoulders and pull him in for a warm hug.

"Oh...she is." Feigning a pout, he added, "She doesn't love me anymore, she only wants me when she needs a dead body on the floor."

"He's lying... don't listen to him," came a slightly high pitched voice that could not be mistaken for anyone else.

"Win," they greeted in unison as they gathered around her.

Jonah watched them fall into each others' arms, not at all inclined to interrupt the reunion. Apart from a group photograph, there was no other photo of the EOD cum Computer Tech anywhere. He thought Scarlatti looked better in person. _And so likeable_. And his Mrs was pretty, she appeared graceful too. For some reason it got him thinking of Abby, he exhaled, _I must do something about that._

Not long after the Scarlattis' arrival, Sgt Parker who had been in a meeting with the Mayor and the Police high command at City Hall, came over to check them out,"Boss," Spike said delightedly as he went over to give the Boss a warm embrace.

"I thought they amputated your arms... you didn't email, messaged or call. Now, you show up here four months later. It's not good riddance I hope," Parker said in jest.

"No Boss... we were taken to a secure location in the first three months... to simulate being cut-off from family and friends. Sort of to give us an idea of the dedication of people living in terrorist camps. To feel the isolation, the commitment, the aggression. It was tough, Boss, we suffered Facebook and Twitter withdrawal." Parker smiled at that last truthful comment.

Greg saw Winnie, "Come here," he summoned, she came over for a welcome hug. He held her shoulders and inspected her from an arm's length, "You, what's your excuse?"

"Boss, I'm just not into the social media as much as Spike and I was super busy with my CSI course. Sometimes I crawl to bed in exhaustion. But now we're here to make it up to you, guys."

It was Win who noticed Jonah discreetly bench pressing in the far corner, she asked Greg with her eyes, "Who's that?"

"Jonah," Greg called out, "Come meet your predecessor." Greg made the quick introductions which was followed by handshake all around. Jonah was surprisingly at ease as Spike beamed at him, "You enjoying your time here, buddy?"

"Affirmative," he said. "They're all very nice to me."

"Seriously," Spike said disbelieving. "They were mean to me, they used to make me mop the floor, scrub the toilet, empty the garbage bins, and sometimes they used me as a punching bag," he said deadpan. This earned a playful punch in the gut from Samtastic, "Yeah, like this," he said.

The Techie placed an arm on the younger man's shoulder, "Don't let these guys get their way with you. Make sure you show them who's the Boss, you can start with Sam here."

He suddenly remembered someone, "Where's Raf?" Spike asked.

"On leave," came the reply from behind him.

Spike shifted around, "Leah," he lifted the African-Canadian Officer off the ground, too. He was grateful they eventually became close considering how rude and dismissive he was of her initially. She had been understanding and patient with him when he was being petulant and unjustifiably offensive when she first joined the Team, as if it was her fault Lou was killed in the line of duty.

"How long are you staying?" she asked when finally he set her down.

"Not long. We got a two-day pass... well, everyone did."

Greg looked at the time and suggested they all move their butts to the SUVs and patrol the City. Sam paired off with Jonah; Ed with Jules; Leah with Greg.

"We'll be back in a couple of hours," informed Greg to Spike and Win.

"Don't mind us, we'll keep ourselves preoccupied and entertained. And, guys come to a get-together at the Camdens after shift. It's just barbecue and drinks. You don't have to bring anything. Deal?" Sure thing they said, Ed Lane added it's great to have something nice to look forward to at the end of shift.

The couple left soon after Team One left for their patrolling duty. With only two days availability to catch up with loved ones they hurriedly scrambled to arrange to have as many people who mean to them to gather round at Win's parents' house for the get-together. Steph, Win's BFF would be there, of course; along with Leslie McCoy di Nozzi and detective husband Joe.

But Murphy, the Great Naysayer, had other ideas. Team One's shift which was a mere two hours to go stretched for another two when three parolees sharing living arrangements in a halfway house decided now, _today of all days_, was a good day to try to kill each other. The situation was beyond messy, by the time Team One arrived at the scene no one was clear who instigated what. The manager of the halfway house, a religious from the Salvation Army, made the mistake of getting in the middle of the melee and got himself hurt in the process.

"I'm Sgt Greg Parker of the SRU, what's your name?" the Boss intuitively befriended a witness, one of the residents who managed to escape.

"Mark," he said looking gaunt and nervous. Police had always been his nemesis from the beginning of time, talking to one in full combat gear didn't make him feel warm and fuzzy. If he had any sense at all, he should be scooting out here quick smart. But there's something about the round-faced man with a bald head. A calm demeanor and an approachable personality.

"Mark, what can you tell me about the people inside?"

"Three men got in a scuffle, each grabbed a kitchen knife and went for each others' throat. The religious man tried to referee and got hurt for his effort."

"Mark, what can you tell me about the people inside?"

"The three are still inside, plus one other – an old man – the longest staying resident here. He couldn't run so he stayed where he was. I don't think they'll hurt him, he's not a threat but the religious is inside, he was bleeding the last time I saw him."

"Do you know the three guys?"

"Ya, Ron...paroled after 15 years in the slammer for murder. Rick was inside for 10...for rape if I remember correctly. Don Symonds, 12 years for manslaughter and attempted murder. They're all in their 40s."

"Jonah, you got that?"

"Copy that Boss. I'm reaching out to Correctional Services for information on the subjects. And Boss, I've got the number for the halfway house, I'll dial it now?"

"Go ahead. And get EMS out here now. ASAP."

"Right, Boss."

Next thing Greg heard in his earwig was the ringing of the land line phone followed by a loud crashing noise as it was ripped right out of wall and thrown across the room. _Well, someone's in a bad mood._

Someone was hysterically shouting from a room on the second floor, "Help, he's gonna to kill me, he's freakin crazy." They all looked up, "Who's that?" The witness said,"that's Rick the rapist."

Using a megaphone Greg asked Rick who was trying to kill him, "It's Ron, that motherfucker should not have been let out, he's a murderer of the worst kind," followed by unprintable profanities. Jonah had the idea of calling the fire brigade to get Rick the rapist out of the second storey window, "Go ahead, follow through," said Parker.

The fire brigade was a scene within 10 minutes. Leah supervised the placement of the ladder against the window, she climbed up using her expertise in fire rescue operations. The window was grilled so she had to cut out two steel bars to enable Rick to climb out. Sam and Jules covered her from below, ready to fire should she get in trouble.

The first Sam knew that the subject was hurt was when blood droplets hit his cheek. He felt himself freeze, some prisoners contract HIV virus or hepatitis in jail. He got out of the way and dragged Jules along, "Move back, move back."

She looked at Sam and was horrified to find smeared blood on his face, "Sam, are you hurt?" He shook his head. Then she noticed blood droplets on the ladder, too. Someone up there was bleeding, she looked up to find Leah had carried the bleeding subject over her shoulder in a fireman's lift. Rick, the rapist was now close to exanguinating. _Bloody hell,_ was all Jules could think about.

In the meantime, Ed Lane, the Fearless Leader had come to the end of his tether, not a good thing for subjects if they knew what was good for them. "We need the optic snake now Jonah, we need to know where these people are."

A short distance away, paramedics attended to the injured subject, stemming further blood loss. Leah stripped out of her bloody gloves, vest and uniform. One of the paramedics bagged these and asked permission to put them in a nuclear bin, she said sure thing. Leah was left with a white muscle singlet which didn't look bad as her torso and upper arm rippled in muscular definition. Jules handed Sam alcohol to remove blood from his face, both would have to be tested for all known viruses in human history, but that would have to wait till later – first things first. They had people to rescue.

Sam, Jules and Leah went over where Ed was and was surprised that the Fearless Leader had lost his cool, the optic snake was not in the Truck, as it should have been. Naturally, Jonah copped the blame. He struggled to explain that he was sure it was there last time he checked, it may have been that a Team before them forgot to replace it.

In the heat of the moment, Ed Lane said something to Jonah who instantly felt he was being singled out to take the fall. Greg Parker jumped in to say that now was the time to improvise NOT impute blame. "Guys, focus... improvise. Hey, what did cops used to do before the age of optic snake people!"

In the end it was also Jonah who found the solution to the problem. He used the heat-imaging devise to determine who was where. And that was a good thing because it soon became clear that Ron and Don were hiding in their rooms and the religious was lying on the floor in the dining room.

"Ok, on my signal," said Ed Lane. They were going for a coordinated entry. Sam and Jules to Ron's room; Ed and the Boss to Don's room; Jonah and Leah would attend to the Salvation Army hero. On three, they were inside the house: smooth, fast and lethal.

RCMP detectives arrived soonish and took over the crime scene investigation. While SRU packed up to go back to HQ.

The debriefing took all of an hour. Jonah sat quietly, looking forlorn, today it ended well, he thought. But the more he dwell on it, the more convinced he was it could have turned out ugly for a lack of a resource, Ed noticed. "Jonah, I apologise for my outburst. I know it's not your fault. We share resources around here, it can't be just you having to making sure the equipments are on board, it is as much our job as yours."

Jonah nodded but he couldn't help feeling like he failed them. Jules hugged him from behind and whispered, "You did good, kid. You did good."

Just then, Greg mobile giggled, he looked art the screen, "It's Spike."

"Are we going?"

"We should, we might not see again for awhile," said Sam.

"Ok, then let's go."

When everyone left the briefing room, Jonah remained hunched on his seat, "You ok, Jon?" asked Greg concerned.

"I'd rather not go?"

"Nope," he said. "You're coming and you're driving me." He wasn't going to let Jonah off to sulk by himself. He would have to learn to suck it up and get on with it, this job had no place for onion skin. Part of his role as Boss and mentor was to get his people to a place of mental toughness, so young Jonah had to grin and bear it!

At the party, Spike found an opportunity to sit next to Jonah alone. "I heard you all had a tough day." Jonah didn't know what to think, did they tittle tattle to Spike about his failure? They can't have. They can't possibly . But it appeared the Techie knew of his failure.

"What's wrong, buddy?"

"Well, they're blaming me for not having the optic snake in the truck," he said softly.

"Wow, that's the first I heard of that," said Spike. "Tell me what happened." Now that he started it, he had to finish the story. Scarlatti shook his head, "Jonah, they'd never think of that as your problem. Not your fault buddy. And as far as forgetting was concerned you can't beat me."

Jonah looked at Spike surprised, "Know what I forgot on my first hot call... " he paused and then smiled broadly at Jonah, "I forgot the bloody password for the system. The Boss was calling out to me for answers and I didn't have them, I couldn't log on."

The young apprentice couldn't believe what Spike was telling him, "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"Nope," Spike called out to Greg Parker, "Boss, come tell Jonah the story of my first hot call."

"Yeah, he forgot the password to the system... bloody idiot!"

The apprentice felt better now because the Master showed his human side.


	17. Picking Up Where They Left Off

_Author's Note: Leslie McCoy, the daughter of Spike's first Training Officer, Sgt Oliver McCoy fell in love with a Canadian-Italian Detective, Joe di Nozzi in the story "Hope."_

**Picking Up Where They Left Off**

Even after nearly four months of separation from family and friends, they picked up where they left off so to speak, there wasn't any need to "catch up" in the ordinary sense. Catching up was for people who drifted apart.

As the get-together progressed by the hour everyone noticed, especially Jonah; though none voiced it openly; that Spike and Parker hanged around each other a lot and joked around like there was no tomorrow. Greg's son, Dean, was unable to make it to the impromptu party as he was held up at the Police Academy, the younger man's absence was Spike's gain for he had Parker to himself.

One had to be blind not to notice. It's become an accepted given to all that the relationship between the Italian and the Boss transcended the normal Sargent and Constable interaction. They shared more than the usual Mentor and disciple dynamics. In some ways, the Boss deferred to Spike's opinion, often asking for his expertise. But in matters concerning the heart and human behavior, the Italian was the beneficiary of the Sargent's wisdom. Parker was the single most influential male figure in Scarlatti's life.

There was no jealousy amongst Team One because although Parker had a special place for Spike Scarlatti in his life, he didn't favor him above the others. The latter still had to prove himself worthy of his spot and to that end, First Officer Ed Lane, Team Leader, dictated the standard by which everyone was held and no one was ever spared the measuring rod, Techie or not!

The party was growing more boisterous by the minute as more came to say "hello" to the couple. Win was busy playing the part of a gracious hostess. She made sure there was plenty of food and drinks to go around and that no guest was left out. The winsome Mrs Scarlatti was serving a tray of finger food when she caught the eyes of her husband. And as usual, he played the jester. He rubbed his chin to indicate that she had something on her face, she took out a piece of tissue from her sleeves and wiped her face but there was nothing! He thought it was funny, she screwed her face at him to say 'How childish of you'. He stuck his tongue out and drew it back quickly. He dug his hands inside his pockets, twisted round to come face to face with Sam Braddock who cheekily observed, "Happy now, are you?"

Spike playfully head-butted the blond's chest who grabbed him by the waist. The two men dropped to the ground and wrestled, Jules just managing to skip out of their way before she too got dragged down to the ground in a threesome. They heard Mr Camden's booming voice call out from the barbecue pit, "I just planted those tomatoes, if you wreck them be prepared to replant them." It made them stop just short of the vegie patch.

"Make yourselves useful and man the barbecue," Parker ordered. _Keep them busy, they'd stay out of trouble. _

More guests trickled in. Some stayed for the fellowship, others 'ate and ran'. It was midnight by the time the party wrapped up more out of courtesy to the neigbours who would be getting in a few hours to go to work or school. There being so little time before Spike and Win had to go back to Quantico, Spike chose to spend what precious little he had with Greg Parker.

Before the party came to an end, he cornered the Boss and asked to have a private time with him the next day. They agreed to meet again at the ungodly hour of 5am. Leslie McCoy di Nozzi, Spike's de facto little sister, overhearing the conversation offered to open her cafe an hour early just for the two of them, "I'll even make you guys hot breakfast."

"Great," said Spike. "See you there, Boss. 5am."

The next morning, Leslie was already at her cafe at 4am receiving deliveries and prepping the kitchen. Being her own boss was tough, there were a lot of sacrifices to be made but there were also a lot of rewards to be had. Whilst it's true she started her day at the break of dawn she also finished early, this gave her a lot of time to do the things she liked most, like looking after her nephews and nieces on Joe's side of the family after school.

Looking after the preschoolers made her clucky. She told Spike at the party yesterday she couldn't wait to become a mother. Running a business meant she could keep to her own schedule, something she won't be able to do as an employee. She's not on the family way yet but she knew that when it did happen, she was ready; and so was Joe and his entire Italian family. Seeing how ready Leslie was for motherhood made Spike clucky, too, She told Leslie in a rather reflective mood there's nothing like a huge Italian family at a feast. "The noise register always hit double digit decibels," he said.

"Oh, I live among one," she said. "But what about you? It's always just you and Win. Aren't you bored out of your brains yet?"

Spike smiled and made a grab for Leslie, "I'm counting on you to increase the flock, right now, we have to wait. Win is enjoying her CSI course. I did tell her that when she's done, I'd stay at home and be a kept husband. I'll take up knitting." He kissed the top of her head.

Leslie laughed, "You'd be climbing up the wall before you know it."

"You think so? Then you don't know me well." He said with a wink.

Leslie looked at him sideways, "You're scheming aren't you? What are you thinking of doing, really?" she asked, unconvinced her big brother would actually retire and take up knitting. If he did, it would be more like knitting wires, not wool.

She heard knocking on the backdoor, she hastened to open it to find a hypothermic Spike blowing into his hands, "How did you get here?' she asked puzzled at the sight of him.

"I run," he said between shattering of teeth. "Quick, let me in. My butt feels like a block of ice. Cappucchino, please. Big mug," he ordered as he ran towards the heater to thaw. Mrs di Nozzi went to operate the espresso machine as she watched her strange big brother dance a jig in front of the heater, "Serves you right," she said.

Not long after that they heard a gentle knock on the backdoor, Greg had arrived. Leslie opened the door to find a snugly covered Parker, warm clothing from head to toe. "Hello, Greg. Spike, now looks who's Mr sensible?"

She left the two men to their own devices, "What's your order for breakfast?" she asked as she prepared the ingredients for the standard grilled bacon, egg, tomatoes and toasted bread.

"I like my bacon crispy, my eggs scrambled, my toast burnt and my tomatoes sun-dried," Spike called out.

"I like my bacon normal, my eggs sunny side up, my toast brown and the tomatoes lightly grilled," added Greg.

"Coming right up."

Spike served Greg his coffee of choice whilst he made himself a second one, they settled in a corner; they didn't want to have to move seats when the cafe opened up and the patrons started arriving.

Greg asked the first question, "How's married life?"

"It's a lot of fun. It's been nearly a year and I haven't noticed it," he said beaming.

"I heard Win's loving her CSI course, looks like we could possibly lose her to RCMP Forensic Lab, they're eyeing her return."

"She loving it. Sometimes I'm a little bit jealous of the time she's putting into it. She's consumed by it."

Greg laughed, "You mean, you're no longer the centre of her universe. Her life doesn't revolve around you anymore." Spike didn't answer, he was thinking, _Maybe? _When Spike didn't volley back, Greg thought he hit the mark.

"It's good your relationship has evolved to a point where there's room for other things in your lives. You're both aiming to achieve something independently of each other, that can only enhance your relationship. Just make sure you don't drift apart. Its a balancing act to be independent of each other and be connected at the same time.

"It's good to be in a place where your individual happiness does not hinged on each other. You see, just the thought that someone else's happiness rest on us is a burden, not a joy."

"Boss, that makes a lot of sense."

"Remember Spike... I learned that from life's lessons I failed. Don't repeat my failures," Greg said in earnest. Shortly after that, they heard a little bell go 'Diiiing'.

"Food's ready, I'll get it," Spike stood to go to the counter and came back with two massive plates. Leslie followed Spike to the table with two tall glasses of orange juice and a fruit platter.

Greg's jaw dropped, "What's this? Breakfast, lunch and dinner?," he joked at the size of the serving. "It ought to be illegal to kill someone with kindness."

"Let's better start," said Spike, "Or we'll be here till closing." They bantered and ate their breakfast, occasionally Leslie joined them when she wasn't busy pottering in the kitchen.

But then like all good things, it had to end. Greg had a City to protect, Leslie a business to run, Spike a commitment at Quantico to get to. As they took their leave, Spike asked Greg how it's going between him and Marina, "You two getting there yet?"

Greg gave him a meaningful smile, "That's for me to know and for you to find out," he said cryptically.

Spike smiled broadly, "My crystal ball said I'd be a best man soon." Greg gave nothing away, all he said was, "I miss you, buddy. Come back soon."

Michaelangelo Scarlatti turned slightly away as he often did when he felt a tad embarrassed, "Will do, Boss, as soon as I can."


	18. Day of Reckoning

_Author's Note: This chapter covers the dark shade of life. Bullying is a subject we're all familiar with. We have either experienced it ourselves or someone close to us had This is a chapter on forgiveness and battling through against all odds._

**Day of Reckoning**

Weeks passed. Spike had gone back to Quantico and Jonah had resumed his fill-in role with Team One. Everyday he grew in stature and gained more experience, realistically he ought to be over the moon. But alas! Something was missing. He needed to be reconciled with someone from his past.

The day of reckoning came – it had to come eventually. Jonah fronted up at Jo's school to speak to Miss Lim. It's been weeks since he began psyching himself up for this, he came to the conclusion that the sooner he faced up to it the better he would be, there was no point in prolonging the agony and in delaying the inevitable.

He debated whether to set an appointment via the school secretary or to simply walk-in unannounced. In the end, he decided it was best both for himself and Abby that he arranged a meeting. In fairness she probably needed to prepare emotionally, too. _It wouldn't be easy coming face-to-face with her childhood tormentor._

Jonah came to school dressed in plain street clothes. Bill Williams, the lanky middle-aged school registrar met him at the foyer and escorted him to Abby's office. She wasn't in, "Have a seat Mr Chua, I'm sure she'll be back soon. Would you like tea or coffee while you wait? he asked politely.

"I'm fine, thank you," he replied with a disarming smile, "I'd be fine to wait here."

The registrar nodded ever so slightly, "I'll go see where she is and let her know you're here."

"There's no hurry," he said.

Abby's office was modestly decorated. A bigger-than-average faux mahogany desk dominated the room, a medium-sized swivel chair and two decent chairs for visitors in front of her desk. A large framed print of a golden Toronto sunrise hanged against one wall and a blazing orange sunset opposite. There were few décor, centre stage on her table was a small smiling ceramic pig. It was beaming at him and he unconsciously beamed back at it.

He looked at his watch, 2:15pm. Little sister would be out in an hour, he hoped to be finished with his business with Abby before then but there was no chance of that now, he thought. There were piles of books on the shelf to his right, many of them about psychology and self-help books on personal development. He picked one up, he was engrossed on a page when a voice from behind said, "Hi, you're here to speak to me about Joanna?"

He turned around to find the expected pretty porcelain doll-like face looking directly at him. Fringe framed her face, the rest of her charcoal black waist-length hair was braided behind her. He was momentarily tongue-tied, encouraged only to speak when her eyebrows went up a notch.

"Yes, I'm here to talk about Jo."

He felt an interchange of sexually charged electricity rendering the private meeting a little uncomfortable for him. He hoped she couldn't see through him as he internally squirmed, his composure gradually disintegrating.

"Tea or coffee?" she asked, brown eyes boring into his. Again, they were misty, he wondered if they were always watery or if it was him and the memories of childhood cruelty which brought about sadness in those eyes.

He looked down on his hands, "No, thank you," he said.

He waited a few seconds before he cleared his throat, "Abby, I don't know how to say this without sounding like a cock up, I want you to know I'm sorry for what I did to you when we were kids." She sighed deeply. For the longest time she thought of this day, she thought of the time and the hour when he would make amends and acknowledged the hurt he had caused her. It was happening - this very minute - as she had hoped and prayed but now she didn't know precisely how to respond.

"I have no excuse for what I did. You put up with me taunting and bullying you for years, I was an asshole. A total jackass. Saying sorry now, it's probably meaningless to you." To her surprise, his eyes glinted with tears which threatened to spill. He blinked them back forcibly.

"You're wrong. It means a lot to me. Hearing it from you, hearing you're sorry means a lot to me. It'll help me to be free of my pain. When someone has hurt you so much... sometimes the only real healing comes from _that_ someone saying they're sorry for what they did."

She pulled a couple of tissues from the box of kleenex sitting on her desk and dabbed on her eyes, "You saying sorry validated my experience." She was embarrassed by the tears, he on the other hand felt a little discomfited. Like most men, he didn't know how to handle crying women. To her credit, she was controlled even considering the circumstances.

"Can you forgive me?" he asked sincerely. "I know it won't come easy to you, it hasn't come easy for me to forgive myself, I'm still working on it."

The conversation was getting intense. The four walls started to feel like they were about to collapse on them. It felt to Jonah as if the room was closing in, "Let's go a walk, shall we?" she invited. He stood up quickly, glad to be getting some fresh air. She went around her desk, but had to pass him on the way to the door. He moved back a tad to let her pass without bumping into him. There was no contact except for the wisp of air between them that sent shivers up and down his spine.

They walked towards the school grounds in silence. "When did you realised...?" She didn't finished the sentence, they both knew what she meant.

"I realised how badly I treated you on my first week at my new school. Changing school was the best thing that ever happened to me. I was the only Asian kid in Year 7 that year, a group of kids relentlessly called me `Asian faggot' everyday... in the classroom,...at recess. One day I lost it and broke the jaw of the ringleader. It was only then that I understood how you must have felt everyday for three years I constantly taunted you. I called you `Fatty Abby' everyday and not once did you fight back."

He stopped in his track and turned around to face her, "You put up with it, why?"

She looked at him in defiance, "I didn't put up with it because I was scared of you. There were days I'd have scratched your face or kicked you. I thought about it many times but I was on a scholarship put up by your parents and I couldn't afford to lose it. Fighting you could mean not going to school. My Mom couldn't afford to send me anywhere else."

They kept walking until they reached a rise on the ground. She sat down, looking demure in her tailored suit. She hugged her legs for support. He sat down next to her, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for putting you through hell everyday at school. For pulling your hair until you hurt. Mocking you until you cried. Calling you names. Abby, I haven't forgotten. I was haunted by the memories for years." It was now his turn to get teary.

The vista of the open school grounds loomed large before them, Jonah stared ahead, "As a child, I got away with murder, no one ever told me off. I was an emperor child. Everyone around me... my parents, teachers, nanny, driver, all the adults who should have known better never once told me how hurtful I was. No one pulled me up for it. I was just cute to them you know and I didn't know any better... until I got a dose of my own medicine..."

There was a long pause, then he added almost in a whisper, "It's not an excuse, Abby. All I have is an explanation." He looked up at the sky, shame and guilt mixed in, "Sorry is not enough," he murmured.

To his surprise, Abby reached over and touched him ever so slightly on his arm, "It's ok, I understand. I have no hate."

"I don't understand how not," he said. "But I believe you. How can I repay you? Just being sorry isn't good enough. It just doesn't wash anymore."

She smiled at him, "I have an anti-bullying message in school, you can help talk to the kids,...when you find the time."

"I'll find the time," he assured her. The bell rang, signaling the end of school day. He stood up first and offered his hand to her, gently pulling her up. They headed back together, meandering down the path towards the administration hall.

"I have to tell you... it was Jennifer who taught me kindness and Joanna... when she was born... I grew up."

"Jennifer?" she asked, expecting him to say _`Yeah, my first girlfriend.'_

"My turtle," he said unabashedly.

"Turtle?" she looked at him in a way that challenged him to tell her the truth and to stop pulling her leg.

"She was given to me by my Nanny when I was 12, her parting gift to me. Jennifer **is** my Master Yoda. I'm not sure how but she teaches me patience... and what love is," he turned to face her, "I mean it Abby, I'll be around to help."

The two of them could have talked forever but Joanna was now racing towards them, which meant the centre of the Universe would have to shift in five seconds to be precise. "Koko," she hollered rather ungracefully, and like a puppy, she jumped him.

"You're getting too heavy for me now," he complained playfully.

"Work out some more and have more muscle," she said. He put her down before she packed his back in. Satisfied, she faced the pretty school counselor, "Hello, Miss Lim. When can we see you?

Before Abby could answer, Jonah interjected, "Abby's busy today... we'll arrange for another time."

"Abby... well, you're on a first name basis now are you?"

"Jo, Abby and I were at school together... we knew each other from kindergarten but I didn't pay attention to her til we were nine, but it was attention I'm sure she'd rather I didn't give her."

"Really? Why?" Her curiosity had been piqued and only the long and unaltered truth would satisfy. Abby sensed it so she told her to in a round-about way to forget it, "It's a long story, Jo. I think your brother is tired. He's been here for hours. Take him home."

"Ok," she said, Jo was agreeable which was nice for a change for the youngest Chua could be a handful when she was in the mood to be cantankerous.

The brother and sister tandem said their goodbyes and off they went. Abby found herself walking back to the admin building alone, greeting, chatting to students and parents alike as they passed her. When she reached her office, she sat down heavily like a lump of rock. She felt suddenly tired.

Yes, she was being honest when she said she had forgiven him, but had she really forgotten? She was transported back in time, back to being a nine year old, walking home alone and letting herself in the house. This time, her father had already walked out on them. One day, it just dawned on her that it was just herself and her Mom. Her once exquisitely beautiful mother worked long hours as a sales assistant in a Chinese-ran grocery store.

After a day of torment at school, instigated by Jonah she'd go home and dry retch at the sink. Countless nights, she stood in the bathroom quaking on her feet, unable to stop shaking. The "Fatty Abby" taunts rang loudly in her ears, so affected she was by the teasing, she sometimes could not bring herself to eat and when she did, she gobbled down everything in sight.

There were many nights tears came in torrents wetting her blanket and pajamas, feeling of night terror enveloped her. Each morning it took the will power of a she-devil to get her out of bed and face it all again.

She became aware that her hands were trembling and her lips were quivering, _Oh my God,_ she whispered. Her past had caught her unaware. With the strength of character she possessed, she tried her hardest to suppress the emerging tremor in her soul.

She recognised the face of childhood bullying... its ugly head rearing... threatening to dissolve the good work she had done on herself. The years of recovery, if she wasn't careful, could become undone. But she had gained victory over evil twins anorexia and the bulimia once before, she won't let them take her in their grips again. Never again - it had been a hard fought battle.

No, her body and her mind had been in a constant war against herself... she had won many battles... but she was yet to win the war.

"


	19. Confluence of Events

**Confluence of Events**

Abby didn't want the juveniles to be labeled or to carry the stigma of being a bully, after much discussion with Jonah they mutually decided that a mentoring approach would be the way forward. It would be time-consuming but in their view the one-on-one interaction would produce the best result. Jonah was true to his words, the first thing he arranged to do on his day-off was to speak to kids who were reported as "bullies" by teachers and fellow students, one on one. They also undertook to provide support for kids who were being bullied.

After a successful two week trial of their anti-bullying programme, Jonah came to work at the SRU bouncing off the wall happy. Sgt Parker noticed that a smile was permanently plastered on his face. "You must be in love," the Boss commented when they bumped into each other on the corridor on Jonah's way to the basement.

The young man visibly blushed, to put him at ease the Boss followed this up with a joke, "Not with Babycakes, I hope." Jonah licked his lower lip, smiled and rocked on the sole of his feet, "Yes, Boss, I'm in love, I think." Parker groaned and volleyed back with, "You think?" He slap the younger man on the shoulder and laughed. "Come to the briefing room in 15, whatever you've got to do in the basement do it quick."

"Yes, Boss." The rookie hurried to the basement to collect an item he needed for the Truck, after the previous experience of missing an equipment, Jonah had developed an obsession to checking and re-checking the stores in the Command vehicle. It bordered on the paranoid, his Team Leader Ed Lane noticed and ordered him to "relax."

When he was done prepping the Truck he went to see the Boss. He opened the door without checking and was taken aback to see the Boss in conference with Commander Holleran, "Oh, I'm sorry... pardon me. I... um... didn't check," he stuttered his apology out.

The Commander simply waved a hand, "We're done, come in." Jonah went in a little tentatively. Holleran extended a hand to him, he took it and to his surprise the Commander said, "I hear good things about you Constable Chua, keep up the good work."

A little intimidated, all he could say was, "Thank you."

As soon as Holleran left, Parker invited Jonah to sit opposite him. "Are you ready for your first assessment? It's been over four months. I normally do this on the rookie's first month and then the third but we've been very busy... so..."

"Wow, am I ready?" he said with a chuckle, "Nope... but it had to happen sometime."

Parker admired the young man's ability to roll with the punches. Jonah was the youngest officer he has ever had in his command at only 25. He was green, and wet behind the ears but he was eager to learn and took to policing at great personal sacrifice.

The interview lasted 45 minutes, it was informal, non-threatening and convivial, punctuated with lots of laughter and jokes. Towards the end, Parker turned serious. "Have you thought what you might do in case Spike comes back in two months?"

He, too, turned pensive. He knew the FBI had been "wooing" Spike to stay for another year and he knew negotiations between Top Command both sides of the border had been earnest and he also knew this was Spike's home. Where, indeed, did that leave him?

"Honestly, I haven't thought of it but I know it would work out... for me and Spike. I'm just glad I've been given this opportunity to serve. It's been an amazing experience." They chatted about different opportunities in the RCMP and the numerous options he had outside of the SRU.

"When will we know if Spike's coming back?" he asked.

"In about a month, we will know for sure. Any later and it wouldn't be fair to you."

"Don't worry about me, Boss. There'll be something for me out there."

The young man looked hopeful and resigned. Greg surmised, _must be the influence of Eastern philosophy._ They ended the meeting just as the red light swirled and announcement of "Hot call" reverberated in the halls of SRU HQ. Parker went straight to the despatcher's desk to inquire about the nature of the emergency. "Bomb threat, a package was left in the lobby of a property developer. Here's the address."

"Call RCMP bomb squad to meet us there," ordered Sgt Parker. Team One scrambled to get ready and within two minutes they were on their way to the central business district. They arrived at the scene to find uniformed officers had already set up a perimeter to keep bystanders and the curious safe and at bay. RCMP Bomb squad got there not long after.

Sgt Parker asked for the building's occupants to be evacuated, with members of Team One escorting the people out through the back door. Constable Jules Callaghan was assigned "Sierra One", she climbed up the roof top of the building opposite to scope anyone acting suspiciously and to report anyone who might have the trigger on the parcel.

Constable Jonah Chua stayed in the Truck, glad to have Babycakes for company. He monitored for unusual high frequency signal and thought to be on the safe side he should use a jammer. It could be problematic as it meant no one in close proximity could use their cellphones. But then all police and rescue units had radios so they could all communicate by short wave.

"Boss, I think we should engage a jammer in case it's a real bomb and could be triggered remotely. We won't be able to use our phones but we can still communicate by radio."

"Ok, let's do that," said the Boss.

Sgt Parker was busy coordinating the activities of rescue services, ordinarily one of his Team would be his second. But today there was no one by his side. Someone dressed in blue overall managed to breach the perimeter and approached Parker from behind. Callaghan saw the man through her scope but by the time she realised what was about to happen a live bomb was already super glued to the Sargent's vest. _Bloody hell. S_he felt instantly gripped by a sense of dread.

Jonah was inside the truck. Ed, Sam and Leah were evacuating the building as the Bomb Squad prepared to disable the bomb parcel not knowing that the real bomb was outside in the Plaza attached to the back of one of the most decorated Police Officers in the country.

Jules' voice came on their radios with the grim news, she sounded tight and anxious, "A man attached a live bomb on the back of Greg's vest." They all froze.

"Attached? How?" said Leah disbelieving.

"It looks like glue." answered Jules.

Ed Lane asked the EOD, "What's in the parcel?"

In reply, he looked at his bomb sniffing device, and said to everyone's consternation, "False alarm, the real bomb may be out there."

_I've got to think of something fast. _ Jonah decided that his best vantage point was inside the Truck, not outside. He concentrated on getting an angle on the bomb using all available street cameras around the plaza. He zoomed in on the bomb then radioed the RCMP bomb squad, "I have a clear view of the bomb inside the Command Truck if someone wants to have a look so we know what we're dealing with."

"Good thinking, Jonah." It was Sam. The trio were out of the building in no time. Ed directed Sam and Leah to go to his left and the other to his right. The bomber was now surrounded but it didn't fazed him. For all intents and purposes, he was maniacally suicidal.

An EOD climbed up the Truck to have a look, grateful to have the opportunity to study the bomb up close, "I'm Danny," he said by way of introduction. Jonah introduced himself as a courtesy.

"Ok, Jonah, let's see what we have here." Danny gasped and held his breath, "Guys, this looks like liquid explosive made up mainly of triacetone triperoxide or TATP. It's highly volatile. A spark or light friction can detonate the explosive. Guys, do not fire. I repeat do not fire."

Meanwhile, out in the Plaza in view of onlookers and police officers, the deranged plotter raised his arm to show a mobile phone, "Nobody moves or I'll blast him." Unbeknown to him Jonah had already activated a signal jammer except it wasn't all there was to it. Had it been, the siege would have been over already. The EOD personnel radiod Ed Lane, "It's got a timer. We've got 15 minutes if the time is accurate. There's no room for discussion here. I strongly suggest you guys forget about negotiating."

The bomber put his arm around Parker who instantly went frigid. He felt chilled to the bone. His body froze and his mind went blank. It's one of the human body's natural reaction to life-threatening experiences, self-preservation. Parker forced himself to take a deep breathe and to trust his team to do the right thing. The Fearless Leader, First Officer Ed Lane, didn't hesitate to take control of the situation, although he himself feared for his long-time friend and Boss.

"I'm Officer Ed Lane. The Officer to whom you have attached a bomb is Sgt Greg Parker. What's your name?"

The man gave him a crooked smile, which reminded him of the "Joker" a comics villain who needed no introduction. "I'll be famous soon enough and then everyone will know my name. You can forget about trying to save him, it'll be all over in," he glanced down at his wrist to looked at his watch, "twelve minutes." The sound of laughter that bellowed from his throat was creepy. There was no rhyme or reason, he was just plain insane and psychopathic. Here on centre-stage, with all eyes on him, he would go out in a blaze of glory. He would be tomorrow's headline news and every year on the anniversary of this fateful day his name would be spoken in awe.

"What's stopping the Boss from removing his vest?" asked Jonah.

_Good question, _thought the Bomb guy."Can you zoom in on the bomb a little closer," he asked. Jonah manipulated the keyboard until they had a view so close it was as if they were holding the devise themselves.

"The worst thing he could do is move. Greg has to stay still. Ed no room for negotiation, I repeat, no room. I've got to get to Greg ASAP, it's down to nine minutes. I need as much time as I can get. We need to get him away from Greg, Ed. If he pushes him or drags him, it's over."

Ed heard Danny's every word, his eyes remained fixed on the Joker but his heart was somersaulting, "Jules I'll try to get him away from Greg, when you get a shot, do it - rubber bullet only. Make sure he falls away from Greg, the bomb is very sensitive, it can't be moved."

Jules took a deep breathe, "Copy that."

Ed Lane tried again, "Look, just tell me your name."

"Markus, the name is Markus," he said gloatingly.

"Ok, Markus can you please move a little closer to me so I don't have to shout. You're holding the remote so no one will do anything, ok."

"You must think I'm stupid, I move and you shoot me. I know you've got someone up there." Instead he moved closer to Greg. His face coming nose to nose with the Sargent.

Greg spoke for the first time since his ordeal started. "You realised when I go 'boom' you go with me, don't you? What's the glory in that, Markus?" The bomber paused. He heard his name, _sweet._ He eyed his hostage with an amused look on his face.

His heart beating a hundred miles per minute, hands clammy with fear-induced sweat, Parker nevertheless continued, he was undoubtedly going to have to negotiate for his life, "What's the glory in not hearing people speak your name, Markus? Wouldn't you be better off alive and know that everyone will never forget your name? You will always be famous as the man who got the Sargent of the SRU." Markus smiled.

He danced a jig, "You're right, I got ya. No one's ever done that.. . I'm the only one who got a Swat officer hostage." He raised his arms happily going around in a circle, witnesses were gobsmacked. Team One hoped that Greg was able to penetrate through the delusion.

Parker tried to catch his captor's attention, "Look, can you remove the vest now? Gently."

"Ok, he said" "I got ya, I got ya," Markus repeated over and over, reciting it as if it was a mantra.

Greg raised his arms up, Markus ripped the velcro as gently as he could. Danny was watching the timer on the bomb and counted it down for everyone on the radio, "10, 9, 8,..." The vest was now half-way out of the Sargent's head. As he counted down, everyone moved as far back as possible to avoid debris from the potential blast. The vest now over his head, Greg told Markus to put the vest down on the ground, "Put it down. Quick."

He gingerly placed the vest on the ground upright, and run behind Greg, Danny continued with the count down, "3, 2, 1." An almighty explosion happened, the outward blast went up and out to a radius of three feet. Markus caught some of orange blast on his back. Next thing he was writhing on the ground, his clothing on fire. Jonah had the presence of mind to grab a fire blanket and was out of the Truck before anyone could move. RCMP Bomb squad moved in quickly to doused the fire and EMS came over to check out Sgt Parker and stretchered Markus to the burns unit.

Team One returned to HQ, they decided to postpone the debrief for tomorrow. Everyone was concerned for Greg but they knew what the Boss needed now, more than anything, was peace and quiet, he had just been through a traumatic time. Parker sat slouched on the chair looking out through the glass window. Outside it was a moonless night, but the stars were out in force although their glitter were deadened somewhat by street lights and smog. "Boss, can I drive you home?" It was Jonah offering.

Greg swiveled around, "Thanks, son. You go ahead, I'll stay here for awhile." He hesitated but he could also see the Boss' reluctance to be baby-sat, his quandary was solved when a feminine voice said, "I'll take care of him."

Jonah turned around and saw a beautiful, tall mature woman. "I'm Marina," she gave him her hand to shake, "You must be Jonah."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Greg watched the two of them get acquainted, and continued to sit motionless. He was emotionally, mentally, physically drained. His brain screamed for solitude but for now, yes, he'd settle for someone warm to silently, wordlessly cuddle with on the couch. And that's exactly what they did.

Jonah left the SRU after everyone else was gone. He drove off wondering where he could go as he didn't feel like going home to a void space. It was now 9pm. The roads were deserted except for a few motorists. He didn't know why but he drove passed the school, he slowed down when he saw a familiar figure walking out the gate. Abigail was just finishing for the day.

He slowed down next to her which startled her. He reached over to the door of his Mazda and opened it, "Hop in." She peeped in to chastise him, "God, you scared me." Then she gave him a mocked frown, "Are you stalking me?"

He chuckled, "I wish I have the time, I'd love to do nothing but stalk you."

She grinned and hopped in. "I only live round the corner you know, I can just as easily walk home."

"No way," he said firmly. "Do you usually finish up this late?"

"No, just busy because it's close to graduation, I'm prepping the Year 6's and 12's to make the transition to bigger schools. Um... I heard you guys have been busy."

"That... yeah, we were," but he didn't elaborate. "I'm hungry. Are You?"

"More than you know."

"Let's go grab something to eat, shall we?"

"I would really like some pasta, do you know a good place?"

"Yup, I do. Apparently, Spike went there a lot so it must be good."

"Spike?"

"Oh, the guy I'm filling in for. The one who's at Quantico training to be an anti-terror specialist, he's Italian."

"Oh nice. I can't wait to eat proper Italian."

They reached the restaurant in 10 minutes but it was standing room only, with no prior reservation she didn't think they'd be able to get a table but she was wrong. The minute Jonah's shadow fell in the door, the Maitre'd found a table for two. "Welcome back, Jonah and who's this stunning lady?" The compliment embarrassed Abby.

"Don't be shy young lady, you make him look good."

"This is Abby. Abby, this is Josefa."

She waited until they were seated before leaving them in the care of the head waiter. Abby let Jonah order the food and the drink and was grateful for the appetisers that appeared on the table in no time.

The dinner lasted over two hours, but honestly, Jonah couldn't remember anything much but the sight he beheld. She was elegant. If there was one word to describe how he felt that night, it was mesmerised. He was mesmerised by a lovely swan.

He noticed she was wearing her long hair up in a bun, tiny strands of hair cascaded down to glisten in the light. The fringe over her forehead defined her porcelain doll-like face. Her arms were lean and toned and her slender fingers unblemished and unmanicured.

"Do you still dance?" he asked, remembering her 'ballerina' walk.

She was surprised, "I didn't know you knew... anyway I stopped ballet when I became too tall. Dance companies like their ballerinas petite. I switched to rhythmic gymnastics in high school but only for recreation and exercise." _That explains the elegance and the grace._

"Where do you practice?"

"At the school gym, it's free." She laughed.

"What's your apparatus? Is that what's its called?"

"Ribbons," she said.

They could have talked all night except Josefa passed and yawned, loudly.


	20. Taking Stock of what's Important

**Taking Stock of What's Important**

The incident at the Plaza with Sargent Greg Parker made international news, although names were withheld Winnie and Spike knew which SRU team was involved. They were at different parts of the FBI building; he in the main building, she was in the forensics lab. They stopped what they were doing along with their colleagues to check the news feed on CNN.

Spike's phone buzzed as he stood transfixed at the FBI lobby watching it "live", he glanced at the phone, his face cracked into a tiny smile when he read "Wife Scarlatti." It has evolved from plain Winnie to Miss Sunshine to Wife Scarlatti. "Mr Scarlatti here," he said.

"Wife Scarlatti checking if Mr Scarlatti knows about…"

"I do. I'm watching it with the others. Looks like they've had to call on the RCMP Bomb squad," he said as he gave her a running commentary of what they're watching unfold.

"Will they use Babycakes?" she asked, eyes glued to the small screen of the Forensics lab. Another forensics tech stood beside Winnie to watch the on-going saga.

"RCMP has their own Babycakes, they'll use the robot they're familiar with." Suddenly there was commotion in the Plaza. On their screen was an animated man in blue overall his arms raised above his head. Reporters and journalists tried to get up close and personal to "see" for themselves what was going on. Jostling each other for prime position but the uniforms held their perimeter.

Cameras focused on the unknown man. No one could make heads and tails of what's going on. The idea to jam the signal was a brilliant move. The gathered media contingent could not call their editors and as such it contained the spread of speculation and gossip. But it didn't mean squat, the public was hungry for news… any news. They watched the live feed in their living rooms anxious to find out what was going on in the Plaza at the Central Business District. The reporters fed their clamour with non-news by mere speculation.

A news reporter was even recorded to say, "A reliable police source said that a bomb was reportedly left inside the building on the foyer of a property developer and the man we see here in blue overall, on your screen, had apparently admitted it was his handywork."

Commander Holleran who was watching in his office at HQ turned around to his Troop, he asked sharply, "Who's the reliable source?" Everybody looked around, one of his Aide d'Camp said, "I think it's the reporter's imaginary friend."

Win and Spike watched with interest, since they knew the way news were reported they didn't listen to any of it, _there was more to this than what's being said_. Spike left the lobby, "Call you later Miss Sunshine, there's something I need to do."

He left for a secluded location and called the Command Truck. His Team would be focused on the unfolding drama 100% so calling them for up-date would be an unwelcomed distraction. The Truck's communication system picked up the signal, it didn't ring. Soon Spike was picking up the conversations inside the Truck. Spike had downloaded a spyware in the communications system so he could eavesdrop when the occasion warranted it. Now was such an occasion. Spike knew the system inside out. He knew its power, its sophistication and its vulnerabilities. Knowing its weakness allowed Spike to download a virus that made it a listening device as he had just done. If people in Top Command knew of the extent of his skills with "viruses" they really wouldn't let him out of their sight.

Scarlatti's spine tingled when he heard Danny's assessment of the liquid bomb. With one hand on the phone stuck to his ears, he rubbed his head in agony. His heart felt as if it was being squeezed, he felt absolutely helpless, his Boss Father was directly involved. Greg always put his life on the line, always. Always at the risk of gunpoint, but this…. God, this was in the extreme. He paced the floor, he didn't know how long it took, he forgot time…. it felt as if it took a hundred hours before he expelled a sigh of relief.

He overheard the sound of a blast. _Fuck, no! Oh God._ He rushed back to the big screen to watch the instant replay. On screen, he saw Sgt Greg Parker running away from the man in blue overall. The Sargent stopping, turning around and encouraging the man in blue, his arms motioning frantically, "Quick!"

The man in blue gingerly placed the black police vest on the ground and started running then a blast, some of the powerful orangy-coloured explosive emission caught him and his overall was on fire. They watched as a young constable, a fire blanket in hand, grabbing the screaming man and wrestling him down to the ground, covering him with the blanket. It was a massive effort, selfless and heroic.

The camera were spun around again to show faces of television reporters to their faithful viewers. No serving SRU Officer fronted up to be interviewed, it wasn't the done thing. Anonymity was SRU's protection so they were never paraded in front of the public. Instead more speculations were bandied about, at the end of the day Commander Holleran issued a press release to say it was nothing but an exercise. Everyone lost interest!

It was decided not to glorify the act of one Markus Skinner. His name would remain incognito, his one dastardly act consigned to the bin of ignominy and forgotten by tomorrow. No one deserved to be remembered for a psychotic act. No one deserved to be glorified for something totally nonsensical and deranged. No one was going to have that power over the police and the public, not when it could be helped.

Spike's first act was to send a text message to Sargent Parker, "I'm coming home." He couldn't let anything similar happen without him being there for his Boss Father. He just couldn't. The FBI's offer was massive but paled in comparison to knowing where he had to be…. **Home**. And with the family he loved.

When Lewis Young was blown up by a bomb planted by an environmental anarchist he was there, he was powerless to stop it killing his friend but he was there! He was there for Sargent Oliver McCoy! He wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Greg was too tired to answer the text message. Spike didn't expect any! He expected that they would be busy with debrief and recovery. He wished he was home because he would be looking after Greg. He would be silently watching over him, even from a safe distance. He couldn't do that from Quantico.

He phoned back Winnie who was equally as relived, then he broke the news to her, "We're going home at the end of six months."

Winnie simply said, "I'm pack and ready to go." Silence, then she said, "I love you, see you at home."

On a couch at SRU HQ, at the end of a hard day, Greg and Marina cuddled wordlessly together watching the night sky. The silence was broken only when she asked if he cared for dinner, he gazed at the stars and absent-mindedly said, "Yes, yes I do." She moved to get up, he grabbed her wrist, "Don't leave."

"I won't," she said, "I'll call for the food to be delivered. She walked up to the despatcher's desk. Peter was on duty and she told him to call her when the delivery guy comes with the Chinese food, "Would you like some?" she offered. "I can order for three." Peter offered his thanks and said he had just eaten dinner.

Team Three was on duty so Marina caught up with Donna, the beautiful Sargent Sabine. "How's he doing?" she asked.

"He's not admitting to it yet… but he's traumatised, I can feel it."

"He's in shock. Once the shock wears out, he'd be the first to ask for help. Hang in there. We're all here for him." They chatted some more until the food arrived, "I better feed my man," she said. They hugged and parted. Someone had to keep the peace. It's Donna's turn tonight.

Marina laid the food out on the conference table, they ate in peace. It was a struggle for Greg to chat… he couldn't pretend there was nothing to it. There was obviously something massively big. _Something big just happened_. He nearly lost the chance to be with Dean, nearly lost the opportunity to see him become a man. It was nearly snatched from him.

And he nearly lost the chance for another crack at happiness.

He nearly lost his life today but he's still here, thanks to everyone. Could he place himself in the line of fire again? Willingly? Ably? Seflessly? With so much to lose?

And now that it was so in-your-face, would Marina want to stay for more? She must have read his mind, she reached for his hand and said, "I love you… no matter the cost." He teared up and mouthed, "Thank you."

Mr Chua, patriarch of the Chua Dynasty sat glued in front of the big flat screen television that dominated his office. He just saw his son armed with just a fire blanket and protected by his stupid vest wrestle a man, literally on fire, to the ground. "Idiot," he said angrily. His heart was broken in pieces, "All these", he spread his arms wide, "is your domain. You could own half of Toronto if you wish."

He decided not to continue to suffer in silence, he must let his son know once and for all the stupidity of his ways. He summoned his driver cum bodyguard who was a former Special Forces, veteran of wars with a closet full of medals of valour, "Get my son and bring him here, tonight."

The man didn't say a word. He just turned on his heels and went about his business. He turned on the tracking device placed discreetly inside the little Mazda for just such an occasion. He found the car parked in front of an Italian restaurant. He saw Jonah from the window with a beautiful Chinese lass, he left them alone. Disturbing romances wasn't what he signed up for. The old man just had to wait.

Two hours passed. He was tired of waiting. He was going to get out of his car to stretch his legs when Jonah and his girlfriend came out. He followed discreetly and saw Jonah take her home, _you better not be staying the night_, he thought. Jonah didn't. He followed again til they reached the parking space of Jonah's little bachelor pad in the city, then Mr JTF2 showed up. "Hey," he said.

Jonah's eyes rolled, "What now? You've been demoted."

The man, still heavy set and strong in his late 40s, slapped Jonah's arm playfully…. it hurt. "Ouch! Watch where your palm lands…it's made of lead."

"Your Dad wants to speak to you."

"He wants to speak to me and he sent a goon."

Mr Special Forces didn't like that one bit, he stood to his full height and took a step forward to Jonah who shrunk inwardly, "We're cool… it's just a joke. Can't you take a joke?"

"This way," he said, pointing Jonah to his vehicle, a Mercedes Benz 2013 model, GLK 350 4-matic with bullet-proofed windows. "Can't this wait till the morning?"

"I made him wait long enough. I could have dragged you out of the restaurant screaming and kicking for all I care. But I cared. I'm a romantic at heart," the former JTF2 officer called Zeus replied. Jonah decided to get it out of the way, "Ok, let's go."

"Zeus, my father wants an obedient son, why can't he just adopt you," Jonah said flippantly.

Zeus laughed, "I'm being paid to do my job. I wasn't a dutiful son, you can ask my father. He's still waiting for me to say I'm sorry for leaving him to pick up the pieces of his life." The former SF stared straight ahead. He drove the machine with ease and with perfection. "Your father loves you."

"I know that… we can't argue about that **BUT** I can't live the life he set for me."

They drove in silence. Zeus escorted Jonah to his father's office, "If there's nothing else I'm retiring for the night. Caleb is here to take over." Caleb was another SF guy, former Brit SAS. The third on watch was Hulk, a mountain man from Spetznas. Mr Chua waved him off, Zeus handed the keys to Caleb, "Keep them both alive," he said with a smirk.

"I suppose you expect me to say Congratulations for your heroics today?" Mr Chua said.

"No, I have come to expect nothing from you," was Jonah's curt reply.

"I don't understand Jonah… all my life I've worked hard to provide for you and your sisters. All my life I created this monument but you spit at my face. All these are for you… I can't take them with me."

"Please father, let's do away with the dramatics. I love you, I don't spit at your face… I don't know how to make you understand that I have my own life to live… not one you pave for me. I don't care about all these money and the business. My sisters care, you should give it to them. They can make it prosper, my heart's not in it."

"And where does your heart lie?"

"I want to do what I do."

"Fine. We won't discuss this anymore but I expect you to do at least one thing for me. You must attend my 55th birthday at the Grand Plaza." Mr Chua handed him a gold envelope. "It's black tie affair. You still have an account with Georgio Armani in the City. Make sure you make it, please."

"Please?" Jonah was surprised, "You've never said please to me before. Is there something I need to know beforehand."

"Maybe I've mellowed in my old age," said Mr Chua. He went around his desk and pressed a button, Caleb came in within a split second, "Let's go, Caleb."

Jonah realised he came with Zeus, "Give me a lift back?"

"No need, here's your keys." His Dad tossed him a bunch of familiar looking keys, he caught it in the air effortlessly.

"Thanks." But Jonah couldn't help but feel paranoid. He's Jag was being returned. He was being asked to go to a party with an Armani suit. It smelt funny. But he had given his word to go and he couldn't back out without causing World War III.

In the car, Mr Chua dialled a number in China where it was morning, an emerging Chinese billionaire answered, they chatted amicably and happily. When Mr Chua closed the phone down, he said happily to himself, "I found a beautiful wife for my son. Two empires, one in the East and one in the West will become one."

Caleb who was watching from his rear view mirror inwardly shook his head, _fuck me, he just brokered his son._

Jonah entered him home and flopped himself down on his bean bag, he fell asleep dreaming of Abby. He knew he loved her and would hold her dear and close… if hell froze over.

And hell would freeze over!


	21. Dancing with Violin

_Author's Note: This chapter is about the magical moment of romantic love, I ask for your indulgence._

**Dancing with Violin**

It had been an uneventful week, a welcomed respite from the stresses of the week before. The news from Spike was reason enough for Greg Parker's spirit to lift but it also placed upon his shoulders the unpalatable duty of advising Jonah of the news. He waited seven days to make the announcement to give the Techie an opportunity to evaluate the situation, in fact two days later he called Spike to let him know to think about it more carefully. Spike's answer was straight-forward, he didn't need to think about it, he already knew in his heart he made the right choice.

As a courtesy, Greg wanted to tell Jonah first. It was serendipitous that the young constable had just finished writing his incident report that afternoon, "Boss," he said from the door, "here's the report you've been asking for. Sorry it's three days late." Greg smiled at the young man, he beckoned him in, "Close the door, will ya."

He waited for the young constable to be seated before he engaged him in conversation. The Sargent asked about his family, Jonah looked at the ceiling and fidgeted on his seat. Encouraged by the Boss' gentle nature, he confessed that he's been paranoid about his father's unexpected generosity, "He doesn't ever give anything without a reason. Family is business. Everything is negotiable."

Parker nodded sagely not that he knew anything about this whole "family is business" thing; he merely wanted Jonah to know that he understood his apprehension. Chua was very touched when the Boss said, "You've got a family here whatever happens, and that's regardless of whether or not you're officially with Team One."

Jonah looked at him knowingly, "You've heard, Boss?"

Greg nodded, "Spike is coming back in six weeks." They exhaled at the same time and laughed out loud at their own obvious discomfort when it was all so unnecessary. "You can expect Ed and myself to write letter of references for you. You've been an excellent addition to the team, I just wish we have room to keep you. Correction... we have room, just not the money to pay for the extra man."

"I understand Boss. I haven't decided what I'm going to do next but thank you." He paused then added, "Have you told everyone yet?"

"No, I wanted to tell you first. Would you please call them in, time I make the announcement." The Constable made a move to gather everyone, and then Greg thought it wasn't as bad as he imagined it would be.

Team One slowly made their way to the briefing room, Greg saw Raf first - looking refreshed and relaxed, "Raf, you're look tan," he joked. Raf laughed and with a quick repartee said, "Majorca this time of year, gorgeous. Oh and Billy sends her love."

Ed Lane walked in last still dripping from a quick shower after a huge day at the firing range. "What's up?" he said. The Fearless Leader was not a man to wait around, _snappy does it_ was the way to go. Without much ado, Parker told them that Spike was coming home in six weeks, "They're waiting for Winnie to get her certification as a CSI. She's best in class I heard. They've made us proud."

They whistled at the news, "Of course," Parker added, "Winnie has the advantage of having her own 'dead body' to practice with at home. His words, not mine," Parker said beaming.

"That's great man," Sam and Raf high-fived. The blonde warrior suggested they plan a "welcome back hazing."

"Talk about it outside," Parker shoo'd them all out, "I've got more reports to write. Out! Discuss that somewhere else." They all happily ambled out of the room.

"Guys," it was Ed Lane, "Inventory and cages. Now!" Everyone groaned. Ed smiled. He loved it. He loved it when they were all obedient and compliant. Raf looked at the TL and said, "You missed your calling, Ed. You should have become a high school principal." Instead of being offended, Lane simply said, "Rousseau, you're on detention."

After shift, they all headed out the door pretty much as a group. When they reached the carpark, all eyes pegged on the same object – the sexy machine that was the silver Jag. It sparkled handsomely under the afternoon sky, "Wow, it's back!" exclaimed Leah.

"What did you have to trade to get that back?" asked Jules. Jonah thought how close Jules was to the truth, deep down inside he sensed that was indeed a trade-off for enjoying the luxury of driving this car but what that was he was yet to find out. Jonah replied, "I haven't agreed to trade anything for it. You know, Jules, I think you're on to something. But I'd return the car before I compromise myself, that much I can tell you. Anyway, I've got to go... there's someone I've got to see."

"Joanna or Jennifer?" Jules asked.

"Both. And... Abby."

"Who's Abby?" they all asked. Jonah laughed boyishly, "None of your business. I'm late, gotta go."

Jonah went home to shower. He took his time scrubbing, shaving, toweling and ended his grooming ritual with moisturising his skin. He smiled at the thought that he's got a hot date with one hot woman. His mind was full of romantic musing, _tonight would be extraordinarily special_.

Done with his grooming, he started with the business of preening. He held the suit at arm's length, it a full Giorgio Armani Tuxedo. The ensemble was rounded off by his one indulgence, a dress timepiece by Baume et Mercier whose182 years of Swiss engineering produced _Classima,_ a traditional looking wrist watch that featured roman numerals, highlighted by the finer details of blued hands and guilloche décor. Watches was his one crazy passion, in his drawer was 23 other world famous brands. His one shameless obsession.

On the way out he collected a case, inside was a Paganini violin, a treasure from childhood which was also an instrument of torture for him back in the day. He carefully placed the violin in the back seat and drove off to the school. He had a surprise prepared for Abby. Today, she was scheduled to practice rhythmic gymnastic with her favorite apparatus, the ribbon and he would accompany her by playing the violin.

Last week, he watched her practiced. He was entranced by the beauty of her movements and the way the ribbon flowed and moved with her. It can't have been as easy as she made it looked, the **ribbon** was 6 metres in length, the movements large, smooth and flowing. She was fluid in her motions. Every twirl, jump, toss, leap and tumble seemed effortless. The ribbon appeared to have a life of its own as it swayed in the air, created circles, serpents and spirals. She played to recorded music over the PA but she deserved better and that's when he thought of playing his violin for her.

Abby was in the gymnasium dressed exquisitely in her sequined leotard, barefoot and beautiful. Her waist length hair was up in a bun, light reflected and bounced off the blackness of her hair so she seemed as if she was wearing a halo. Tall, willowy and graceful she looked every inch a lovely swan.

She was limbering when he arrived, Joanna her sole audience. Mesmerised, the young girl didn't know her brother had arrived until he stepped in the arena. He put his case down, opened it and lifted the violin to the crook of his neck, he played the first bar of the song he had been memorising for a week.

Abby pirouetted to the source of the sound. She mouthed, "Oh my God" and cracked a smile. He took a bow, his eyes never leaving hers. When he straightened up, he played the music that would later become their song, "Born Free."

He closed his eyes as he drew the bow and sang the song inside his head, listening to it with his heart and marinating it in his soul...

_Born free, as free as the wind blows  
As free as the grass grows  
Born free to follow your heart_

_Live free, and beauty surrounds you_  
_The world still astounds you_  
_Each time you look at a star_

_Stay free, where no walls divide you_  
_You're free as a roaring tide_  
_So there's no need to hide_

Towards the end, as the music hit a crescendo, Abby twirled and leaped and tossed the ribbon in the air, she caught it again with her hand as she finished with a dramatic leap, the ribbon free-flowing in the air as it formed circles, upon circles and the song in Jonah's mind captured a moment in time.

_Born free, and life is worth living __  
__But only worth living __  
__Cause you're born free _

There was only one witness to the occasion, a ten-year-old child, even she had tears in her eyes.


	22. A Date with Destiny

**A Date with Destiny**

Greg Parker was summoned to another meeting at City Hall, the third in five months. They were supposedly top-secret and so were arranged outside of Greg's normal shift. Each meeting lasted two to three hours. And each were attended by the top police and military brass, intelligence unit and the City Alderman.

He walked into the SRU HQ after such a meet when Ed Lane eyed him at the corridor, a clear signal they needed to talk. His eyebrows went up as Ed's head moved ever slightly to the left signaling where he'd like to catch up. Greg followed his Team Leader. He had a feeling what this might about but he opted to stay cool.

They went into the briefing room, Greg going in first. Ed hollered to the Despatcher on duty to hold all calls unless a matter of life and death before closing the door behind him. He gave his Sargent the chance to settle down on the swivel chair at the head of the table before asking point blank, "What's up, Greg?"

Parker looked at his close friend and long-time colleague. He sized Ed up for a millionth time in the 20 odds year they've known each other. Tall, muscular, bald but handsome as any Hollywood stars and fearsome with a strong commanding personality. The 'no non-sense' Team Leader asked casually, or at least he made an effort to sound casual, "You planning to run for Mayor? You've been darkening the halls of City Hall quite often lately."

"And who told you this?" Greg Parker asked, trying to appear nonchalant.

"Come on, Greg, you know me better than that. I have eyes and ears everywhere." Ed stood to his full height, "I'd like to be the first to know. Something's up and it's not about Spike coming back." Seconds passed, enough time for Ed to rest his bum on the table, his arms across his solid chest. His eyes daring his friend to deny the news coursing down the grapevine. The Sargent had too much respect for his TL to fib his way out, _Fair enough,_ _he ought to know what might have a dramatic impact on his life._

"The City is planning to create a specialist anti-terror unit and they want me to head it up. It's still in the pipeline stage and I haven't made a decision. In some ways, I think it's time to move on." Greg rubbed his face, Ed nodded with understanding. "The Mayor's given me a month to make up my mind. You know what this means, Ed?"

"There'd be seismic changes in the Team if you go." It was Ed's turn to be contemplative. Gone was the tough exterior, in it's place was a tender and affirming facade. Greg continued, "If I go, it would be a big deal for this team. It means we're going to have to look at you getting promoted to Sargent, which if you ask me Ed, is so long over due for you. Jules as Chief Negotiator, Sam as Team Leader. A date with destiny for half this team."

Ed smiled, _a date with destiny_. There would be a lot to think about. His brain kicked into overdrive. Did he really want to write reports half his waking time? Did he want to rub elbows with the powers-that-be? He actually liked rubbing their noses instead. Could he really like working with a folder in the crook of his arm rather than a Remington rifle? Could he keep his cool long enough not to shout out "Scorpio" before every rocks had been turned?

He. They. Had no doubt Jules was ready to become the Chief Negotiator. She had shown herself to be sharp and focused. Dedicated to a fault. She's ready for the step up. More than ready.

Sam, ah, Sam had been ready to be full-time Team Leader for ages. He had the X factor. A leadership quality that could lead his team to Ground Zero without hesitation. Ed's eyes twinkled, _a_ _date with destiny._

Ed was straight-forward, "What's the debate, Greg? Should be easy. It's a well deserved promotion and a step into the inner sanctum; and a step away from critical situations." After the nerve wracking bomb incident at the Plaza, any man, elite police officers included would jump at the chance to be out of the danger game.

"A step away from critical situation, right?" Greg said laughing. "Who're you kidding? If you call bein' in the middle of a situation room away from critical situation, you're madder than I thought."

He played with his remembrance bracelet, the inscription now faded. Ed watched his Sargent caressed the engraved letters, **Lewis Young,** it said. He looked down at his own faded bracelet, a constant reminder of a young man they lost in the prime of his life, _he died to keep the peace. _

"We have to keep the peace the best way we know how," Greg said solemnly.

They all had a date with destiny.

Not just Sargent Greg Parker.

Not just First Officer Constable Edward Lane.

Not just First Officer Constable Jules Callaghan.

Not just First Officer Constable Samuel Braddock.

Not just First Officer Constable Michaelangelo Scarlatti

They all had a date with destiny.

The workings outside the glass-enclosed briefing room was getting more energetic. Every member of Team One had arrived for duty, each getting ready for anything the citizens of the City could throw at them. Ed stole a glance through the glass door, "They're here. Greg, I know about the meetings, trust me, they know it, too. What do you say you give them the heads up before they hear things they shouldn't?"

Greg agreed with his TL. "Go get them... let's get this over and done with." Lane conserved his energy, he pressed a button on the phone to Despatch, "Sidney, please ask the Team One to come in, closed door meeting."

"The moment of truth," said Jules smiling.

"Bloody about time," said Raf who earned a playful smack on the head from Sam, "What you Aussie now?"

The young African-Canadian laughingly acknowledged that his Aussie girlfriend had such a strong influence on him. "She even got me to watch AFL, Australian footy. Man, it's mad. Only those blokes would play in tight shorts, man." They both laughed at the silliness of it, _men in tight shorts_, blimey!

They all went in as a tight group, the door shut after the last man and it remained shut for a good hour.

They walked out an even tighter group. Regardless of whether the Boss stayed or not , they all had a date with destiny because they all want to keep the peace!

It was patrol the city time again, just to let the public know they were there – ready for anything.

Jules drove with Jonah. Leah and Sam. Raf and Ed. And as often the case, Greg stayed behind to man the fort.

"So how was your date? Not that I'm being nosy?" asked Jules to the very unusually quiet Constable Jonah Chua. He was away with the fairies, floating on air. The little dynamo nudged him, "Oy, hello Earth to Mars!"

Jonah laughed, his child like quality coming to the fore, "Jules, I'm in love."

Callaghan laughed along with him, "Tell me something I don't know."

The rookie feigned surprised, "Is there anything you don't know?"

"Touche!"


	23. Conversations

**Conversations**

Changes were afoot and decisions had to be made, one way or the way.

At Quantico, Virginia Spike and Winnie found themselves enjoying an increasingly rare together time. Mostly, he was in one building and she in another. They both saw Liley and Moppet more than they did each other.

Nevertheless, they made it a point to "constructively use" whatever time we had bumping into each other in the bathroom, shower, hall, dining room, footpath, garden and the corridors of the FBI premises. A quick stolen kiss as she was leaving the shower cubicle and he was entering in. Or a tender embrace in the garage. They've also mastered the art of scanning the crowd for each other at training, in the cafeteria, in the exercise yard even in supermarkets.

It was getting very unhealthy for their relationship so Spike had to dig deep not to let themselves drift apart. The counsel of his Father Boss rang in his ears, "It's a balancing act."

That night, he dragged Winnie off her textbooks and her investigative paraphernalia, "Right, we're going for a walk if I have to bodily carry you out of here."

Liley and Moppet sensed something good was up and waited by the door. Though she was unwilling to leave her homework behind, Winnie reluctantly went with them anyway. She could tell Angel Boy wasn't going to take "No" for an answer. She draped her sweater around her shoulder to keep herself warm for a moonlight walk among aromatic blooms of roses and honeysuckle.

They walked hand-in-hand passed the houses where occupants hid behind thick curtains and dim lights. Soon they reached the edge of the woods behind their home, the canines excitedly rushed to enjoy the boundless freedom. "They need to get out more," Spike said. She agreed and couldn't help but feel guilty of the neglect their dogs had suffered in the name of forensics. "Yeah, I should take them out more," she said.

Spike turned her around, his large hands gently on her shoulders, "We. We should take them out more. Don't take it as your responsibility alone. It's ours. Their ours." He pulled her in for a warm embrace, her face buried on his chest. The rise and fall of his heart beat encouraging her to follow his rhythm, "Yes, ours." If they could just remember that one word "OURS" then chances were they would be able to navigate the perilous route their lives were taking. He into the world of the terrorists and her in the world of crime. It's hard enough for ordinary people with ordinary jobs, they would have to fight tooth and nail to keep their love aflame considering the professions they've chosen.

They continued on with their walk, their conversations punctuated with commands to stop the dogs from causing grievous bodily harm onto each other or causing so much ruckus to wake the entire neighbourhood.

Elsewhere, in a Toronto suburb where kids of certain ages enjoy blissful childhood, Ed and Sophie sat cuddled together in a hammock. They, too, were watching the moon with wine glasses on hand, and a plate of handmade chocolate pieces balanced on Ed's tight stomach muscles. They savoured the peace and quiet.

"What did Clark do today?" Ed asked his long-suffering wife of many years.

"Not much. Came back from his part-time job and then chatted online with a cute girl from work."

"They work together and they came home to chat online," Ed laughed. He laughed not at Clark's teenage quirk but at his own. He used to do that. They used to do that! See each other at University and then talk on the phone for hours when they got home. Same difference. Just that they used the phone back in the day. One attached to the wall, Clark wouldn't know what that ancient contraption was.

"And Izzy?"

"She's growing up too quickly. She's becoming more like you each day," she laughed. "Strong-willed, and she takes no prisoner." Ed delighted in that, "No one will mess with my girl." He kissed the top of her head as she rested it on his chest.

"What do you think of me becoming a Sargent?"

"Did you say Sargent?"

"Uhum," he replied almost in a whisper.

"Truthfully, I'd like that better than you acting as the sniper," she replied in earnest. "Well, I don't know really... you know better. Greg didn't seem to feel less guilty when someone dies. In fact I think he feels more responsible and guiltier... so on second thought..."

Ed nodded thoughtfully, he didn't think of it that way. Yeah, Greg didn't pull the trigger in any occasion but he felt just as culpable, just as affected, He wrestled with every decisions and questioned every angles of the situation. _So _o_n second thought..._

In another Toronto suburb, Ed and Marina enjoyed a late dinner at a fancy restaurant to celebrate "Us" time. Not an anniversary. Not a birthday. Not a promotion or a win. Just the fact they were still together after two years was enough to celebrate.

"Have you made up your mind yet?" she asked.

"Not 100% but I'm honestly leaning towards accepting it. Twenty five years on the front-line is long enough. Even I have my limits," his cherubic face cracking a bit of a smile.

"The Team is ready to move on and to move forward. They are in good hand with good leadership. That's the essence of good leadership, isn't it? The fact they we're not afraid to make ourselves redundant because we've raised leaders to take our place."

Marina looked at Greg with eyes of incredible pride. Here was a man who wasn't afraid for his legacy and who's not afraid to pass on the baton. It's just now a matter of knowing when. When was the right time to make the step forward? And in doing so, to pull the next person right up with him in the ladder of leadership.

It's now close to the middle of the night, Sam and Jules were still wide awake snuggled in bed. For some reason, neither could drift to sleep. Sam, stroking Jules' face with his ring finger mumbled something unintelligible.

"What did you say?" she said, smiling.

"Um..." he said.

"You're passed 18," she said teasingly, "You should have long left grunting behind years ago. So, what did you say?"

"I was just thinking out loud, I'm ready to make team leading my permanent gig."

"Good, I'm glad. I can feel it in my bones."

"What about you? You ready to be chief negotiator full-time?"

She giggled girlishly, which he liked because she didn't do this often enough. "Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not. Just that... when you're negotiating, someone's life hangs in the balance and you're holding the pole by which they could hang. I live in fear... sometimes."

"Fear is good, Jules. It means you won't take unnecessary risks. It means you'd always put safety first. Fear has it's good." So true and so wise.

The dawn was starting to crack the skyline. Billy was awake to greet the morning at 5am as always, being a bush kid it had become ingrained in her. She woke Raf, "Hey, it's time. You promised to join me." He opened his eyes and instantly regretted agreeing to this crazy idea to join her and her mob of little old Asian men and women in the park downtown to do Tai' chi. _What the hell was I thinking?_

But little Billy wasn't going to be deterred. "Get up now, we're late."

"It's 5am, how can we be late?" he grumbled.

"Because my mates get there at 4am." _Bloody hell_, he thought, he realised he's starting to swear like an Aussie now, too.

Fifteen minutes later, he was dressed in his sweats. They arrived at the park where a group of around 20 Chinese centenarians gathered. All limbering and getting ready for fitness. Most didn't speak English, bar a few choice words like "hello, good morning, come , and of course BILLY!"

The crackly instructional tape started to play and Billy joined in the centre, "What are you waiting for?" she said. "Come, join in." He stood stock still by the sidelines until all 20 ancient looking Chinese joined in the summon, "Come, come." With friendly faces all smiling at him, how could he refused? He joined in and they all clapped.

Twenty minutes into the exercise he felt himself broke into a sweat, it wasn't as easy as they made it looked. "Don't forget to breath correctly. In... Out," she instructed. In harmony, they did it along with 20 nameless friendly faces.

Somewhere in another part of town, Leah and her firefighter, James were trying to douse the fire! Without much success! They did have some conversation though...


	24. Grand Affair at the Plaza

**Grand Affair at the Plaza**

Mr Ching Yin Chua's forthcoming 55th was society and business news of the week. Full page ads were taken out on all major broad sheets for a major sale at all their electronic retail stores to coincide with the Man's birthday celebration. In a television interview, he said this was his way of thanking his customers who had been faithfully patronising his retail business since the first he started at age 25, the same age Jonah was now.

"It's my way of repaying them, to let them know how much I appreciate their business." To all and sundry, he was a saint. And why not? A sale to end all sales, 50% discount on all products on the day of his birthday. And the sale was to go on for a full 24 hours. Business analysts lauded the marketing campaign as "inspired" and "ingenious" and "revitalising for the languishing retail sector."

Mr Chua even asked his fellow retailers to join in so the whole community would benefit, and of course everyone went along with it. So now, there's this major 24 hour spending extravaganza to look forward to.

Jonah watched the whole shebang on television. He was both impressed and appalled at his father's savvy in business. There was no way he could do the same if it was the only way to save his skin. He was, without a doubt, his father's polar opposite.

Leah passed him on the way to the gun cage as he was tying up his boots, "Saw your Dad on TV this morning, you look exactly like him. You're so lucky you already what you'd looked like in another 30 years." Jonah groaned. Leah added, "No offense meant."

"None taken, just that it's been said to me a hundred times today. I wish he'd stay home and stop strutting around like a peacock."

"So who's your date at the party?"

"Jo, my baby sister. She's my date."

Leah tried to contain her surprise, but without success, "What about Abby?"

"She doesn't want to go, I invited her. Fair enough, she doesn't know anyone but Jo and I. She didn't want us by her side all night so we arranged to meet before and after the party," Jonah explained with a smile on his dial. "That I'm looking forward to."

His phone jiggled, he looked at the screen, his countenance fell immediately, "Not again," he looked at Leah with pleading eyes, "Take it?"

She moved back, arms up and said, "Who's that?"

"My dad, just tell him I'm occupied. _Please_."

Puppy eyes bored into her, she knew she'd regret it the minute she took the phone, "Hello?" she said. Immediately a speech to end all speeches came blasting in her ears, in Mandarin to boot. She moved the phone a foot away from her ear to protect her eardrum. When he paused to catch his breath she jumped in, "Excuse me, I don't speak Chinese. Can you translate please?"

Mr Chua, the almighty Mr Chua was shocked and irritated, "Who are you?"

"First Officer Constable Leah Kearns. Your son was occupied so answered the phone. Can I take a message?"

The multimillionaire exhaled and said sharply, "I've been told he hasn't been to Giorgio Armani to get a suit, the party is tonight. Is he coming to my party naked?"

"Ok," she said trying to stifle her laughter, "I shall let him know his plan to go naked is not acceptable. Bye, Mr Chua."

"Naked?" Jonah asked fully intrigued.

"Your Dad was wondering if you were planning to go butt naked to his party since you've not gone to the Giorgio Armani shop."

"What the hell's wrong with these people? I've got four sets of suits hanging in my wardrobe, what would I need a fifth for?"

Leah looked at the young man she had come to liked very much, "Being a scion of a multimillionaire isn't what it cracked up to be, eh?"

"You said it," he said. He checked the time, "I better go, Abby's waiting for me." To her surprise, Jonah hugged her, "Thanks for that, buddy."

"Anytime."

Just then the Team walked in, Jules asked ,"Hey, what's with the love-in?" Jonah explained Leah saved his from a tongue lashing and got a sore eardrum as a result. "Gotta go guys" young Jonah said as he dashed out.

He excitedly rushed to the school to meet with his girlfriend and picked up little Jo. "Hey beautiful," he said by way of greeting.

"Who me?" answered Jo cheekily.

"Yes, you, too." He lifted her up in his arms, her legs gripped his waist. "You know I can't do this much longer, right?" She nodded. Abby observed quietly, warmed by the the siblings attachment to each other. She couldn't believe the changes in Jonah. She knew him as someone abrasive, arrogant, mean, bad-tempered. Now, he was a sensitive man. Caring. Responsible. Adorable. If she knew a turtle could do this she'd have bought the reptile from the pet shop in Chinatown when they were kids.

Jonah saw her watching them, he put Jo down and went to her, "Come here. I need a hug. What can I say to make you come with me?"

"Nothing. Nothing you can do or say," she kissed him. "Go now, you need to get ready. Give my love to Jennifer, too."

"Ok," he gave his hand to Jo who took it and said, "Let's."

He brought her to her palatial home before heading to his own little studio unit to get ready. He showered and changed. End of story. He splashed Yves Saint Laurent for men on himself out of habit. Next, he opened his drawer. His fingers traveled the length and breadth of it. He touched the faces of the Omega, the Rolex, the Tissot, the Longines, the TW Steel, and then his hand rested on a Casio calculator wrist watch, a bargain buy at Amazon for $75.00.

Spike wore one when he visited so he wanted one, too. It was functional, cheap, could take a whole heap of work-related punishment and it looked like a toy. An amused thought went through his pretty head, it would be fun!

Jonah arrived at the party in a decent time, not too late, not too early. Hulk met him at the door, "Are you ready, buddy?" Hulk knew about the big secret. He couldn't tell Jonah because he knew the young man would bolt but he hinted, "You looked quite a **catch **tonight, buddy." Jonah halted, he perceived the double meaning. He looked at Hulk, then looked around to see where his Dad was, there was no mistaking it. His old man was hobnobbing with a super rich tycoon from China. It wasn't hard to tell, the man's whole persona screamed Politburo. "Fuck," he said.

"Sorry, Jonah," whispered Hulk, "I'm to escort you over there," he pointed with his lower lip.

Standing beside the middle-aged man from China was a woman about his age. Polished, beautifully coiffed, and draped in designer gown. She didn't walk, she glided. Poised, she stood ram-rod straight with a slight outward tilt of the hips much like a professional model would. A product of a Swiss finishing school. Poor Jonah wanted to vomit, right there and then!

He turned around, Hulk's massive body mass was in the way, "Jonah, he can't make you marry someone who don't love but indulge your old man, it's his birthday. You two can discuss it later."

Young Jonah looked him dead straight, "You've been watching too many Oprah shows."

Hulk laughed, "Nah," he said, "Just bein practical man. And I don't want to have to calm him down, so for the love of God, go!"

With Hulk's massive hand giving me a gentle push, he moved forward. He smiled at Jo who had been standing next to her Dad, unnoticed. "Ah, here's my son," Mr Chua introduced him to their esteemed visitor. Jonah took the older man's hand with both hands as a sign of respect. The Casio calculator watch came out of his sleeve much to his father's horror, he had a peripheral vision of his Dad's aghast face. He stuck his tongue out, Jo giggled. The visitor didn't pay any attention but still his father was shamed. A toy watch! On an occasion such as this that costs his company $120,000 to stage. It would have to be discussed later!

Next, he was introduced to the stunning young woman, whose English name was Alyssa. As they shook hands, a professional photographer snapped a shot. She leaned in to kiss him, another photo! All that fuss and he's only just met her.

All night, they mingled in the crowd. Dad, mum, three sisters and Jonah. The six photographers followed their every move, one for each family member.

When the time for the toast came, it was with exuberant speeches from politicians of all persuasion, after all Mr Chua was a major political donor to all political parties.

It was midnight by the time it ended, too late to see Abby again, he texted her with a love message instead.

Morning came, he turned on the TV to watch the news, and there was a photo of him and Alyssa cheek to cheek but angled in such a way that they appeared to be kissing. The news anchor saying, "This is the best story of the day. East meets West. A financial dynasty if there ever was one."

He stood nailed to the floor watching his life start to crumble before it even begun. Jonah auto dialed Abby's number, he's got to warn her. But Abby was watching the same show, tears running down her face. She heard her phone ring, she looked down at the screen, JC, it said. She turned it off, went to the sink to dry retch.

Jonah stopped calling after his third attempt, _Hell, no! _He was going to stop this non-sense now. He geared up for a showdown.

He got in his car, slammed the door shut... his phone jiggled he thought it must be Abby calling back, he checked the screen, BOSS. He answered it, "Boss?"

"Jonah, calm down," he said. _How did he know? _

"No, Boss, enough is enough! He can't do this."

"Jonah..." but the young man had already tossed his phone out the window, he was on a warpath.

Greg trusted Jonah, trusted him implicitly and explicitly but just in case he went to check the gun cage, he expelled a sigh of relief when every one of their weapons were accounted for. Nevertheless, he mentally braced for a "hot call."

_One irate Constable and three former Special Forces? Not a good mix._


	25. Cost of Love

**The Cost of Love**

Jonah's foot was pressed to the pedal of his silver Jag. He was angered about the whole thing but he also, in all honesty, knew this day would come. He came from a long line of arranged marriages just that he was foolish enough to believe he was entitled to fall in love. He fancied the fact he was born and reared in Canada meant he could choose his bride, alas, tradition die hard, if at all. _It ends here. The mindless contemptible meddling must end now!_

He heard blaring sirens, he glanced up at his rear view mirror and saw a squad car tailing him, which only encouraged him to press on the pedal. _Not now._ The uniformed officer on his tail decided to end the chase when it became obvious the other driver wasn't going to stop. Instead he phoned in the registration and was flabbergasted to learn that the young driver was a SRU officer. "Must be on a 'hot call', buddy." They ceased and desisted but reported the sighting to HQ.

Greg Parker was on hand to receive the report, he told Peter to advise of any development, "Not one second longer, you understand." He went in search of Ed Lane to tell him of what the rookie was up to on his day-off. The TL was thoughtful and once again was the more objective of the two of them, "If there's an escalation, you know we can't deal with it, right. The other team has to go."

"I was afraid you were going to say that. But you're right, we couldn't be 100% detached."

"So let's hope it doesn't come to that." The two leaders got their heads down and focused on keeping the peace.

Every one at home had no doubt what was in store when the silver Jag screeched to a halt in the driveway. Zeus was at the door, where he always was, he stood watch at the entrance like a Greek God. Imposing and immovable.

"Jonah, take it easy, ok." The young constable glared at his Dad's bodyguard and replied, "Whatever happens in there, DO NOT INTERFERE." He was pointedly clear with his message. To his credit, Zeus said, "It's outside my remit. I didn't sign up to engage in domestic squabbles. My job is to take a bullet for the old man, buddy, don't let it be your bullet I stop."

"I'm angry Zeus! I'm not homicidal," he stormed in and slammed the door. Zeus followed shortly after all it was his job to stop a bullet, or as he often jokingly said eat one.

"Papa!" Jonah bellowed from the cavernous foyer of the mansion.

"You don't need to holler, I'm not deaf," he turned around. His father was reclined on the chaise lounge in his silk pajamas, obviously waiting for his arrival. Breakfast laid out in front of him. "Would you like some toasts?" he offered oblivious to his son's great suffering.

His mother was seated near the window looking like a model in her designer outfit, at 7am! She stood to greet him with a kiss. It was a stupid scenery straight out of a serialised soap opera because he obliged her in the midst of a heated confrontation with his father. With the false display of domesticity done Jonah huffed over and stood at attention before the man he always feared until now. "What the hell are you up to now?"

"What am I up to? In case you haven't noticed you are of the marrying age. I had you at your age. I'm not leaving your getting marriage to chance. What! And be like Zeus here – an old bastard of a bachelor." The ex JTF man thought, _What the hell? At least I'm happy._

"You could have at least discussed it with me! And for your information, I have someone I intend to marry. Someone I love. Someone unpretentious. Someone all of us would be proud to have as an addition to this family. Someone I don't even deserve." With that last word, his eyes teared up. Emotions had got the better of him.

"Who are you holding a candle for? That school counsellor who had a lousy father and a counter-lady for a mother? Who's only claim to glory was being first runner up in the Miss Chinatown Toronto beauty contest, if you can even call it that?"

"Who's telling you all this?" Jonah was livid. It was clear as day that his father was having him followed, he turned his eyes on Zeus who put his arms defensively and said again, "Outside of my remit."

"Who?" he asked again, this time in a more defiant tone.

A little voice from behind him answered, "I think it's Mr Williams." He gave her a baffled look, "The school registrar," she explained.

"Oh, so there's someone there in your payroll. Well. For your information she's so much more that you give her credit for. I'm done here. Here's your keys and please write me off your will," he turned to leave but Joanna clutched on to his leg. "I'm coming with you," she whispered to him.

"No, you're not," said the family patriach. This time he, too, was on his feet. "You take Jo and I will have you arrested for kidnapping."

"Kidnapping, my ass!" he said. He took Jo's hand and made a move.

"Nanny!" Mr Chua bellowed. "Take your charge." She was standing behind her, she reached out to take Jo and the little girl screamed, it was heart-breaking, like the sound of a child being taken to the slaughterhouse. She hugged her big brother's leg tighter and sobbed her heart out, "Don't leave me here. Don't leave me."

The Nanny let go of her and pityingly looked to Zeus who shrugged his broad shoulders and said, "Not my remit."

Encouraged by the bodyguard's refusal to get involved, she retreated too. Before doing so, she knelt down in front of her charge and said, "Goodbye, I love you." Jo nodded vigorously. Jonah knelt on one knee so the little girl could hop on his back, "Thank you," he said to the nanny and Zeus.

When the siblings reached the driveway, Caleb who'd been standing sentinel outside tossed him his car keys, "Drive carefully, mate! It's not a car you're used to." Jonah laughed in spite of his pain, "Thanks."

They climbed into the Brit's 25-year old Mercedes Ben 560 SEL "Wow," said Jo. "I've never been in a car like this."

"Like what?" he said.

"There's no roof." She climbed up on the seat and peeped out of the sunroof.

"Sit down, right now!" She obeyed and instantly the sunroof closed. "What did you do that for?"

"I don't want to pick up pieces of you on the road." He ruffled her hair affectionately. "By the way, I've got a small place, ok. And Spike is coming back soon so I'd have to look for another job. Can you eat pork and beans everyday?"

To his surprise, she said, "It doesn't matter Koko, I have money I can pay for us while you look for work."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I've saved all my hong bao." Hong bao. Red envelope. Stuff with money and given as presents on special occasions. He glanced at his little sister who had a brilliant head of her shoulders, much better than his at the same age. He spent all his presents the minute he received them.

"So how much money are we talking about here?" He wasn't prepared for the answer, "$50,000."

"Wow, really? Are you sure you don't mean $5,000." She was offended, she crossed her arms on her chest and said, "I placed first in mathematics so yes I can tell the difference between 5,000 and 50,000."

"What can I say? Inflation. I never got more than $10 in my hong bao growing up."

"Where are we going?"

"To your school, to look for Abby."

"Bloody about time," she said. Shock! Horror! He stole at look at Jo, "Who's teaching you to swear?"

"Hulk! He also taught me to swear in Swahili and Afrikaaner."

"I better tell Hulk to stop this tutorial," and then remembering the bulk of the former Spetsnaz, he said, "on second thought."

"I was gonna say." He shook his head and thought what a delightful little girl she was.

Abby finally made it to the school gate, she walked with her head down, anxious to get to the sanctuary of her office. It seemed people were looking at her and whispering. She hated the pitying look they casually gave her. Before this morning, it was envying stares she disliked. That was when they were still going out. She paused to ask herself, _Still? When did we stop going out? Last night?_

She knew she couldn't compete with the modelicous beauty of Alyssa Chen. Not to mention her money. Despite her anxiety, she decided to battle through - _just for today_. She'll have to think of what she might do in the near future. She might have to leave North America to nurse her broken heart, go to a place where the object of her love and desire wouldn't be known, wouldn't be in the papers or television.

She reached her office, closed the door. She sat on chair and closed her eyes, she felt suddenly very tired. Briefly, she allowed herself to daydream about escaping to the South Pacific, _Bali' hai_. A fictional place to suit her fictional world. Suddenly, the door flew open and who would be standing there but the Chua siblings. She looked at both of them, swallowed and said, "Do you have an appointment?"

"Do we need one?" he asked. "I've just come here to tell you I want to get married."

She stared at him, tears streamed down her face, "I saw..." she said softly.

Jo cottoned on, "Silly," she said exasperated, "He means you. He wants to marry you. Ah..." She grabbed the side of her face and added, "Adults!"

"Will you marry me?" he asked, formally, this time.

"Yes." He went over to her side of the desk, groped for her hands, "You've made me the happiest man on earth."

"What did this proposal cost you?" she asked knowing that it can't have been cheap.

"Everything and nothing." he said in all honesty.

Little Jo piped up, "Ahem, but you still have me, remember?" They were all very happy till a uniformed officer knocked on the door, "Excuse me, we've got a reported kidnapping. Jonah Chua, you're under arrest" whereupon the little girl said, "The hell he is!"

"Who are you?" asked the Officer.

Before Jo could reply, Abby said, "I think there's a misunderstanding here. They're brother and sister and they both came here willingly."

"I'm sorry but he is under arrest... you can explain at the precinct."

Jonah turned to Abby, "Call SRU - ask for Sargent Greg Parker."

Greg was alarmed at the charges and made sure to instruct the Station chief to keep Jonah out of the general population, "He's a police officer, make sure he's isolated. I'll be there after shift." Just to make sure his boy was going to be ok, he asked Dean, his own son to go to the station on his rookie blue day off.

He made a phone call - this insanity had gone far along enough!


	26. From One Father to Another

**From One Father to Another**

Greg Parker called the Chua residence and asked to speak to Jonah's father, he expected to be told to sod off or at least to receive a cold reception so he was surprised when _the_ Mr Chua came to the phone and asked civilly what he wanted.

"I'd like to have a chat to you, as one father to another."

Mr Chua answered that he, Greg, couldn't possibly understand what's going on between him and his son and therefore he, Greg, was the last person he should discuss his relationship with his son with.

"You can say it's none of my business but please hear me out. The way I see it neither of you want to be without the other. Your son loves you even if perhaps you find that hard to believe." Chin exhaled, the word "love" didn't populate his vernacular, not part of his speech pattern but it wasn't to say it's an alien concept to him.

"When would you like to have this chat? And where?"

Greg made a calculated gamble. The elder Chua owned his time. Every minute of it. He didn't answer to anyone about where he went and what he did; whereas he had to account for his time. The public paid his salary, so he said, "Mr Chua, you're very welcome to come to my office."

Not one to mince words or waste time, the Chinese businessman replied, "I'll see you in an hour." Parker acquiesced and hoped the City stayed quiet. He told Peter to call him as soon as Mr Chua, as in Jonah's Dad, turns up.

One hour came by rather quickly, and on the dot, the well-dressed silver-haired businessman was in the SRU HQ. Peter gave him the visitor logbook to sign and buzzed Parker who was there to greet his visitor in less than a minute, "Thanks for coming." He led his guest to the briefing room, "So this is where you guys plan your day." he said by way of opening the conversation.

Greg smiled, "You can say that. Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee?"

The businessman waved his hands, "I've had more than enough caffeine for the day. So what is this you want talk about?"

Parker didn't hold back, both of them were busy men so the sooner they got on with, the better. "It's about your son. He's a good man. A delight to work with. Intelligent. Capable. Diligent and most of all, he has integrity. I don't know you, but I think he got that from you."

"He has disappointed me," Chua answered. "Since his teenage years, he only ever considered what he wanted, what he liked. Doesn't ever give any consideration to what his elders want. His lack of filial piety has been a source of contention between us. Especially now that he thinks he's in love."

Greg has no understanding of the Eastern philosophy of filial piety, he said so to his guest, "It doesn't mean however that I have no appreciation of it. I have many Asian friends so I do know how important it is for Asians to defer to their parents' wishes. But there has to be room for the child to live his life without it becoming an issue of rebellion or descent. After all it is not a crime to want to have your own life to live. Would you rather be without a son?"

The manner by which Greg the question struck a chord in Mr Chua's heart, "You speak as if you lost a son."

"I lost him once. When my wife and I separated she took him away to America. I didn't see him for 10 years after that. He was eight when he left and 18 when he returned. Years I lost I'd never recover," Parker opened up his heart to Mr Chua.

They were silent for a minute, then Greg changed the topic, "What can I call you by the way? I'd rather not call you Mr Chua if that's possible."

The multimillionaire grinned, he understood Greg was leveling the playing field and he admired him for that, "You can call me by my Anglicized name, Henry."

Parker laughed, "How did that come about?"

"Just liked the name so I took it," the silver-haired version of Jonah cracked a smile, the facial features softening dramatically.

"You know, Henry, children change. Now this is," Greg widened his arms to cover the expanse of the small room, "what he wants to do. In two years time, he'll probably get sick of it and would want to sit in a boardroom instead. Give him time. All the wealth you've gained, would that mean anything to you without Jonah?"

Henry looked over the top of Greg's head, he knew the answer to that, his son meant the world to him. He was besides himself with unbridled happiness when the heir to his kingdom was born. "No," he said, "he is everything to me."

"And your daughters?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are they as important to you as Jonah?

He knew the answer to that one, too. "You don't understand Greg, daughters are different from sons. They go out of the family to join another."

"Not where I'm from," said Greg. "Not where you are now, and not where they were born. They only go out of the family to join another because that's what's expected of them. Some traditions are good, even sublime... but some... I don't know. I'm a believer in equality."

Then as if he just remembered, Greg said, "Jonah's in jail by the way." Henry tightened up, he didn't realise the ramifications of what he had done, "Is he ok?"

The Sarge nodded slowly, "I made sure he was held apart from the general population. A cop tended to get severely beaten up in jail. Henry, listen, you're the only one who could get him out of there now, and please think about what we've talked about. Being a father is more than giving our children the best money can buy, it's about helping them become their own person. They weren't given to us to become our carbon copy." Henry didn't answer, instead he asked, "Your son, what is he doing now?"

"He's a rookie blue. A cop," the Sargent said proudly. "His choice not mine, in fact, I'd prefer it if he has a desk job but it's what he wanted to do so I'm here to support him."

Henry Chua clasped his hands together on top of the table. He was thoughtful for a while, "I supposed you're right. My life wouldn't be happy without my son. I just wished he'd be more grateful to receive what I'm building up for him."

"I've heard you've got daughters with bright business minds and that they enjoy growing it with you."

"You heard right," he said. "I better go, I need to arrange Jonah's release."

Greg escorted Henry out to the car park, and spoke one more golden truth, "We are fathers. It's a privilege really more than anything."

"I'll try to remember that." Henry climbed into the backseat of his car with Zeus at the driver seat, "Let's go – to the office."

From the backseat, he called his barrister to arrange for Jonah's release; called his legal team to discuss an effective transition in the event of his incapacity to his two daughters and then called the Chinese guest of honour to deliver the bad news, "Jonah was already spoken for, sorry I didn't know till now."

The Chinese man spoke a stream of profanity over the phone for the embarrassment caused to him and his daughter, Henry moved the phone a foot from his ear to protect his eardrum.

Zeus smiled knowingly. Finally, the armour cracked.


	27. STARTing Over

**STARTing Over**

The sixth month was up. The joint task force was disappointed Scarlatti decided to head back to Toronto, one of his American mentors said it would be a waste of his talent, "This is where the action is." Spike thanked him for his kind although unsolicited assessment, "I'm needed in my own backyard," he said. "Besides, my wife is eager to start her career as a CSI. She's already got a place there."

The way back from Quantico, Virginia to Toronto was delightfully nice, they left one morning with all their belongings (which wasn't a lot) and their dogs and took their time. Stopping at various touristy and isolated places, buying kitschy tokens and souvenirs to give to friends and family. What was meant to be a two-day drive became a week but it was all worth the "our time."

They arrived home and camped at the Camden residence while they search for a house to rent. The canines had gotten used to having a spacious garden to run around in and so it would be cruel in the extreme to leave them cooped up a two-bedroom unit.

Spike went back to work two days after arriving but Winnie had another week before starting her new job at the crime lab. She spent the week looking at houses; visiting with Steph, her exquisitely beautiful BFF and saying hello everyone at SRU HQ.

Jonah overlapped with Spike by a week just to make the transition seamless, the Techie was glad to find that his basement was as he left it. He went upstairs and told everyone he didn't expect to find it so neat, "Thanks guys," he said.

The apprentice replied, "Seriously, it's thanks to you. If you hadn't left us a detailed outline of where everything is, we'd all be tearing our hair out."

"Not Ed and the Boss," Spike replied cheekily.

"Oy, I heard that," Ed Lane gave him a mocked glare.

"What is he being full of himself already?" said the Boss. Spike scratched his head, "No Boss, it was just an honest observation. More like stating the obvious." Greg playfully hit him with a newspaper copy.

"What's in the papers?" Jules asked. Nothing escaped her observation.

"Business section. Chua Electronic Enterprises Appoints First Female President," he passed the broad sheet to Jonah.

The young man read out loud, "Chua Electronic Enterprises, the largest electronic retailer in the Northern hemisphere announced the appointment of Joyce Chua-Zhang as President of Network Distribution and Planning. Unbelievable!"

"What's so unbelievable about that? I'm sure she's quite capable," said Spike.

"Oh yeah she is. She can kick my ass. It's the fact my father has relinquished some of the reins to her that made it newsworthy."

Leah asked, "Have you decided what to do next? I mean you could be sitting in a board room you know instead of doin the hard yards,"

"B.o.r.e.d. Room? No way! I've put in an application to join a new task force as resident Techie," Ed and Greg looked at each other and laughed. "What's funny?" Spike and Jonah asked.

"Nothing," Ed and Greg replied.

It was another week before the "awesome" personnel changes was announced. Greg was moving on and Ed Lane would be Sargent, Sam Braddock Team Leader, Jules Callaghan Chief Negotiator.

"So, Boss what would you be doing now?" Spike asked at the end of shift. It was just the two of them now, everyone had gone home. A time to catch up and fill in the blanks.

"Heading START. Special Terror Alert Response Team. I will be, more or less, in charge of planning a response to any terrorist threats. We're centralising the response team, essentially so we can mobilise quickly and efficiently. That's the hope anyway."

"You'd do amazing well there," Spike said pleased that the Boss was finally getting the recognition he deserved.

"I'd just be one part of a big group of people so any credits won't be all mine," the Boss said modestly. The Techie noted the Boss didn't like hogging the limelight, an endearing quality in a leader.

A week later Jonah announced he's found a new gig and a new dig. "It's cramped with Joanna and Jennifer in a small studio."

"You live with two women?" asked Spike. "One could be so lucky."

"Yeah, right," said Sam, "He's lucky he lives with his 10 year old sister and a turtle."

"A turtle?" the Techie couldn't contain his excitement, "Really? I always wanted a turtle."

"Yeah, he's my Master Yoda. He teaches me philosophy," everyone groaned except Spike.

"Hey, don't mock," Spike defended Jennifer's honour. "Turtles have very intelligent eyes. Have you stared at them before? There's one in the pet shop."

Raf turned to Jonah and said, "When are you leaving? Tomorrow? Good! Before you start forming a Ninja Turtle groupie here."

"I'd be Michaelangelo," said Spike. "Anyway, seriously Jonah, when do you start the new gig."

"Monday... I'm just here to empty my locker and move them to the next building. I'm heading off to START." They all gaped at him, "Yup, the Boss is my Boss."

"Correction," they all looked at Ed Lane who spoke, "The Boss is our Boss. SRU is under the umbrella of START. When there is a terror threat, we are part of the mobilization team. Sam, get your team in the room, I'll join you shortly for a comprehensive briefing."

"Ok, you heard the Sarge... let's go!"

Another week passed, Spike announced he has a new house too. It has three bedrooms, a spacious living room, a super-sized kitchen, a great, big backyard for Liley and Moppet and best of all, a shed away from the main house, "I'm renovating it," he said. They all wanted to know what has happened to Apartments 7 and 8. "We sold 8 and we're keeping 7."

Life at the SRU continued to ebb and flow between hectic to a day or two of non-event. But it was generally quiet however bliss was soon shattered. They attended to one especially distressing "hot call" involving an off duty police officer who tried to stop a mugging and got knifed in the scuffle. The knifing proved fatal. The armed bandit rushed a group of witnesses and snatched a small child in a bid to escape.

It was high tension, and high drama. Adrenaline surged through their veins. It would test their mettle in their new roles and to their credit everyone would perform admirably.

Jules negotiated for the child's successful release, who was traumatised but unhurt, however, there was still the business of the mugger who was showing signs of being suicidal, he kept saying, "I didn't mean to kill him. He shouldn't have got in the way. I didn't mean it to happen?" The subject, distressed and mentally unbalanced, paced back and forth.

Sam Braddock was confident he was at least only a danger to himself and not to anyone else so he let Jules keep negotiating. He assigned Spike "Sierra One" to the delight of the Italian. He positioned himself on a roof with a clear sight of the subject.

It was dragging on and Jules felt that the subject had reached the point of no return, "I've got the solution," Spike said. "We can all go home."

"No one dies today," Braddock said.

"Yeah, no one dies today so trust me, ok? Do I have a 'go'?"

"Ok, give us a solution," replied Sargent Ed Lane.

Spike aimed and fired, the next they heard was the subject's screaming his head off. His hand, the hand holding the knife was bleeding but intact. Sierra One aimed for the knife, "Bingo." Raf rushed to cuffed the subject while Leah collected the evidence.

"I'd be darn," said Sam Braddock. "You've learned a few sniping tricks at Quantico, buddy."

"Yeah, been practising hard at the range there." Ed lane came over and patted him on the back proud as punch.

As they were clearing away, Winnie arrived with the Forensics Unit in her crime investigator uniform, a shiny gold badge attached to her belt. She looked adorable, Spike smiled as he watched her take control over the crime scene. Pride welled in his heart, he clutched his chest and said, "I think I'm in love."

Sam tapped him, "Oy, ?" He followed Spike's eyes and saw Winnie, "She fits the part. Go say hello, we'll wait for you."

He excused himself and ducked inside the yellow police crime scene tape, "Hello, Miss Sunshine."

"Hey," she said. Win came over for an embrace and a kiss.

Someone said, "Try not to contaminate the crime scene while you're at it."

"Doctor Hooker, my husband, Spike Scarlatti."

"I know, I know." he answered gleefully. "Just try to limit the PDAs ok?" They smiled back and at each other, waved goodbye. Spike glanced back at his wife, she's casting her own shadow in her own domain.

Night fall came, on the way home, Spike watched the glittering city skyline as he drove the length of Freeway 401. This was his City, his home. This was where his family thrived and lived blissfully. This was where he liked to cast his shifting shadow, be it small or large.

- The End -


End file.
